There are no rents or taxes here, Everyone owns his own property.
Cân Sef Hanes Y Brig Albion, 1819
O that all the poor people of Wales Could be here, all of them!
Which do you think is best, To stay at home poor in Wales,
Or to come here to Columbia land And say farewell to everyone?
Today almost 450,000 people in Canada are estimated to be of some Welsh descent. Welsh migration to the country began sporadically in the 17th century, although the most successful communities were founded in the 19th century.
One of the first efforts to encourage Welsh emigration to Canada began in 1812, when Welsh native John Mathews endeavoured to bring his family to Canada. Mathews left home at a young age and went on to become a successful businessman in the United States. When he returned to Wales, he found his family living in poverty and became convinced they should emigrate to Canada.
In 1817 his family settled in the township of Southwald, near what is now London, Ontario. By 1812 he had brought over more relatives and the colony attracted 385 Welsh settlers by 1850, retaining its predominantly Welsh character until the late 1870s.
Many other Welsh people were driven to look westward in the 1810s due to famine and unemployment – and with the hope that their identity would be more recognised in a new land than in Britain, where even their language had no legal status.
In some cases early travellers and settlers left first-hand accounts, which reveal fascinating details of the pioneer life.
One of the most fascinating stories concerns the passengers of a brig named Albion, which sailed from Wales to North America – other ships which took emigrants between 1818 and 1822 included the Fanny, Active and New Cambrian. In 1818, the Albion took emigrants from Caernarfon to New York, whence most of them travelled north by land; and in 1919 it sailed from Cardigan (Aberteifi) directly to St John’s, New Brunswick. Of 180 passengers, around 150 are estimated to have travelled on to Fredericton, and then founded Cardigan Settlement around 17 miles away.
Accounts of both voyages have survived, both allegedly written (in Welsh) by the Albion’s captain, Llewelyn Davies – one (Hanes Mordaith Y Brig Albion O Aberteifi) is a diary of the first voyage, and the other a ballad (Cân Sef Hanes Y Brig Albion) about the second.
The definitive account of these voyages and the subsequent Welsh settlements in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is Strangers from a Secret Land (1986), by Peter Thomas. In this article we present a selection of the first-hand accounts to be found there and elsewhere which reveal the lives of the early 19th century Welsh pioneers in Canada.
Hopes of a new life
The original 1818 account of the
Albion’s voyage from Caernarfon to
New York, apparently by Captain
Llewelyn Davies (there is some
scholarly doubt as to the authorship),
was written in Welsh. It was translated
into English by the Welsh poet and
novelist Dr Llewelyn Wyn Griffith
(1890-1977). He drew upon the
material for his novel The Way Lies
West (1945); the full translation was
first published in the journal Maritime
Wales in 1980. In this extract, an early
passage evokes the wistfully optimistic
spirit of the emigrants as they sailed
past Fishguard and onward:
Before turning in for the night we
saw St David’s Head – the last that
many of us, perhaps, will ever see of the
old country, and the sound of our
footsteps will never more be heard on
its soil. Many were our troubles and
griefs in it; but now farewell: good
fortune to its peoples and a blessing on
their endeavours, peace within its walls
and prosperity in its mansions.
Oh! our old country and its
inhabitants – you reared many men and
women, and now we, from within you,
are leaving in search of prosperity, etc.
We ate the bread of bitterness and drank
the water of sorrow oft times: low wages,
many a poor meal we had, but now we
depart from you and all hardships and
oppression, but we wish you a better
future. The land we seek is fertile and
peaceful, with little taxation and no
tithe: no different ranks of society there,
and as much respect for the honest and
poor commoner as to the rich, no harsh
laws to maintain high rents and the high
cost of food, but plenty of scope for the
industrious to prosper.
But although most of us felt like that,
there were some who spoke otherwise
as they looked their last on their old
country, admitting that they had many
blessings there, some of them longing
for treasures there the world thought
little of, lamenting their Kin…
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The voyage
The 1818 Albion voyage took from 18
May to 8 July. Much of it was
uneventful, although inevitably there
were some choppy waters:
2nd June. Wind changing, west to
north, the sea rough, the waves breaking
against the sides, some thinking the ship
would break up, so that what with
sickness and fear they cried ‘Oh, for a
foot of dry land for once – what drew
me into this sorrow? I could have been
happy enough at home but for this
craving for cheap land and good living
in America! Here I am, breaking up,
can’t eat, and all but throwing my inside
up! What shall I do?’ And others said
‘I’d be happy enough if only I could land
some where in Ireland! I vow I’d never
embark on such a venture once I got
there and I’d sacrifice all the money I
paid for this voyage.’
3rd June. Less wind most of the day,
and a quiet night. Many complaining,
some constipated, others the reverse.
The Captain dosed many of them and
they improved: hot vinegar poured on
the boards and beds to sweeten them.
Midday we saw a ship approaching on
its way to England: the Captain asked
if anyone would like to join her, but no
one wanted to.
There was sadness too, though:
12th June… At midday, the sound of
weeping and someone came to the
Captain and said that John Lloyd’s child
aged 14 months had died – her mother
had been ill for some time and unable to
eat much. The Captain ordered a coffin
to be made as there were planks on
board – this is not customary at sea
where it is usual to wrap the body in a
blanket in a weighted sack.
The narrative also records various squabbles among the voyagers. For example:
19th June… A complaint this evening
against two women. They were called up
before the Committee, with witnesses on
both sides. One woman had put her
clothes up to dry, the other put hers up
where they dripped on the other’s which
incensed the first so much that she struck
the other woman twice. The two were
found guilty. They were sentenced to
wash the lower deck unaided for three
mornings. One very obstinate and full of
excuses — she was threatened with the
irons until she obeyed.
The arrival
The first Albion narrative ends with
the arrival in New York:
8th July… We landed in New York
and found many Welsh people, some here
over 15 years, others new. They told us
that some Welsh people from Liverpool
were boarded and robbed by pirates, and
that some had died from drinking cold
water in hot weather. Young girls of good
character much in demand for domestic
service, 6 dollars a month and their
keep –more money if they spoke
English… 2000 houses built here this
year. Much boasting about their progress,
high wages, etc., but we didn’t hear much
about the poor people and the high cost of
living, and how they suffered since the
war with England.
We learnt that we have 165 miles to go
to Albany, and thence 80 miles by land to
Utica, and thence 15 miles to Steuben –
the land there costs 2 dollars an acre,
wooded land and uncleared: the farmers
keep cows and make butter to send to
New York for which they get 20-30 cents
a pound.
Local supporters
Many of the Welsh arrivals in Canada
were poor with few resources for
building the new land they dreamed of.
To a certain extent it was in the interests
of the existing community to help them
get on their feet. In the Fredericton
Royal Gazette of 14 August 1819, it was
reported that a meeting of local people
had resolved to help the Welsh settlers
described as straggling through the
streets
:
For the information of persons who have, or may become Subscribers to assist the Welch [sic] Families, the Committee state, that it will be requisite in order to form a permanent establishment to enable them to construct Huts to shelter their families before the Winter sets in. These Huts constructed in the simplest manner, (that is to say, round logs 15 feet long, laid up 7 or 8 feet high, covered with bark; a door and one small window; the chimney of mud and sticks, or stone; to say nothing about the floor) will cost at least £8 for each; then allowing only £7 more for Provision, &c, for the families on an average, from the present time till they get their first crop, which will be a year at least, it will take £300 to settle 20 families. To persons acquainted with the difficulty of forming new settlements the above sums will not appear extravagant, particularly when it is known that most of the families are very destitute – that they are going ten or twelve miles into the wilderness, where there is not the least sign of cultivation, and where it will be impossible to get employment to procure subsistence without abandoning the settlement.
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