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FOR OUR COUSINS IN
CANADA
www.thecastle.ca
IT WAS a long sail from Scotland to western Canada
when the Dunsmuir family made the journey in 1851.
Robert, his wife Joan and two daughters - journeyed
more than 200 days on the seas heading for Fort
Rupert, north of Victoria, in what is now British
Columbia. They stopped in Vancouver so that Joan
could give birth. Robert Dunsmuir, born in
1825 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, had taken a contract
with the Hudson's Bay Company to mine coal. His
home, the impressive Craigdarroch Castle, Gaelic for
"rocky old place", rests on a hill that overlooks
Victoria. It was built when Dunsmuir was the
wealthiest man in western Canada. Craigdarroch
Castle, now restored as a museum, has a rich and
colourful history. In addition to using a lot of
woodwork, the interior includes a bust of Scots
novelist Sir Walter Scott and a thistle
stained-glass window. The more than two dozen rooms
in Craigdarroch are dressed in Dunsmuir fashions of
the day. When Joan died in 1908 she left her estate
to her daughters, a son-in-law and three
grandchildren, who agreed to sell the contents at
auction. Since then the castle has been used as a
military hospital, a college and office for the
city's school board, and the Victoria Conservatory
of Music. In 1994 the city sold the castle to the
non-profit Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum
Society, providing visitors from around the world a
step back into the life and times of the Dunsmuirs.
STILL IN CANADA …
CRAIGFLOWER -
150-year-old stately house takes visitors on a
journey through time to when Vancouver Island was
farm land worked by settlers, Scotsmen in kilts, Not
much has changed here from the days when Kenneth
McKenzie, his wife and their nine children filled
the rooms with chatter and song. Craigflower was
among four farmsteads on the island established in
the 1850s by the Hudson's Bay Company, which was
charged with helping to colonise the area. McKenzie,
son of an Edinburgh doctor, hailed from Haddington,
East Lothian. McKenzie and his wife Agnes
sailed aboard the Norman Morison. McKenzie applied
to farm on Vancouver Island and he gathered East
Lothian blacksmiths, carpenters and bakers to join
the voyage.The Craigflower settlement was granted to
McKenzie, who was hired to oversee the land. In
January 1853, after a six-month sail, the McKenzies
arrived near Fort Victoria. The family brought with
them some of their beloved belongings, some of which
are on display at Craigflower Manor today. The
35 families set up workers cottages, a bakery and
artisan shops. The land continued to be developed
and a general store, a blacksmith's and a saw mill
were put in place. Along with their hard work on the
farmland the Scots who settled in the area brought
with them something that was a first - free
education for everyone. The schoolhouse was the
first of the new-built structures by McKenzie and
his Scottish mates. Some members of the McKenzie
family stayed in the area, while others moved as far
as California.
THE HECTOR
The frail wooden ship struggled against the high
winds and breaking Atlantic surf. There were more
than 200 passengers on board the Canada Hector; as
days became weeks and weeks turned to months, water
began to run out. The only food left was mouldy
oatcakes and salted meat. Earlier that year - March
1773 - an advert in the Edinburgh Advertiser offered
passage to Pictou, the Hector's destination. The
ship's owner, Dr Witherspoon, and a Greenock
merchant, Mr Pagan, had commissioned an agent to
find people to bring to the new territory in Nova
Scotia. More than two months later – battered
by the strong wind - they were still at sea.
Eighteen children were dead, one baby had been born.
Finally, the journey's end was near. Pictou harbour
came into view on 5 September. Highland dress,
proscribed in Scotland, was hastily put on by the
passengers to greet their new home. There was dense
woodland. There were no houses. There was no
shelter. No provisions. Nothing for miles except
trees. Six months later, in the spring of
1774, only 78 colonists from the original 180
remained in Pictou, yet their indomitable Highland
spirit remained intact. More settlers arrived the
next year and by 1786. Today it is estimated that
there are more than 140,000 descended from the
original Hector people. A replica of the ship is now
on display at Pictou and forms part of a.
www.townofpictou.com Personally, I know of
this ship by a fellow Maclean from our 2002
gathering tour, it is good to, at last, get
something on the website!
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