The Huron Expositor, 1940-09-06, Page 6IN Expos R-
old
r Rent
mo -f -people -s— as 1s Ro Set food
nisbt'orest. 'Lie,+{tare and106:-40 awe
and count aherj Often they blame it on
°nerves" when 4 may be their kidneys.
Healthy kidfle filter poisons from the
blood. If they are faulty and fan, poisons
stay intheLsystegll and sleeplewieea, head-
ache, backache often Ifoltow 1f you don't
sleep well, try Doll's ninety Pills—ler
hall a cetduq the favorite remedy -103
Dodds Kidney Pills
D COMPANY
!�D ANTHONY VanEGMOND
e9rory of 1837 in Huron County
sy WIL-FRED BRENTON KERR, M.A., Ph.D.
Aasoclate Professor of History, University of Buffalo, N. Y„ 1940.
Chapter" IV
• . THOMAS MERCER JONES
According to a statement 4n the
Van Egmond papers, Thomas Mercer
Jones was the son of a wretchedly
poor tenant of five or Mx acres in
Limerick.. -.-County, Ireland. How he
became commissioner of the Canada
Con>,pany is not known; at any rate
he was chosen successor to Galt in
1829 and took over his ,duties prompt-
ly. The Honorable William Allan
was also commissioner with equal
power, but he took little interest in
the Huron Ti:act which was a srihere
hof
aotivity peculiar to Jones. Jones
lived at Toronto until 1839 when a
new commissioner, Frederick Widder,
arrdved. Widder and Allan then re-
mnained in the office • in Toronto, al-
though Allan shortly `resigned, and
Jones took up residence in Godenich
and devoted himself entirely to the
Tract;l •
Jones' private life was not free
from reproach. Soon after the. as:
sumption of his duties, he came into
physical collision with John Gossman-
or Goessm'an, a deputy surveyor of
the Government, 'and Gassman. com-
plained that Jones had put 'forth viol-
ent practise on him with, intent to dem
fraud him in the name of the Canada
Company. The origin and result of
this quarrel we do not know, but it
indicated that Jones was a quite an-
other man than Gahlt. In the first
years of his office, be. left Charles
Prior in. charge at Godertch along
"with Dunlop, but he made lengthy
sisits to the Tract and he had a mis-
tress at Goderich Whom he may -have
brought into the Tract.2 In Toronto
he consorted with the society of the
town,- made( the acquaintance of Arch-
deacon Strachan and his family, and
married Elizabeth Mary, only daugh-
ter of the distinguished churchman.a
He cast off the mistress, handing her
over to Prior, and from that time his
private life appears to have been
correct enough. He brought his bro-
ther-in-law, Henry Strachan, to Gode-
rich as attorney to the company in
the Tract and so fortified himself.
Through the Strachans he was in in-
timate relations with the Family
Compact. and as Allan was a mem-
ber of that group and -an executive
councillor, the two commissioners
were persons of power in the prov-
ince. Henee the company became in-
volved in political friction; the Re-
formers regarded, it as a branch of
the Compact anti were 'ready to de-
nounce it when the notion book them.
It' is the policy of Jones in respect
of the. Huron Tract. rather 'than his
private conduct, that concerns us. It
is unfortunate that 'his correspond-
ence with individuals in the Tract
and with the directors of the com-
DEPENDABLE...
MAGIC gives light,
tender texture
evetime
ry
MADE IN CANADA
RAW', 4f4R119t 'be •traded, fere z4 'rte ,ale
lenge We can res *b only '• tentative
eonelustene front 'scattered bits of elth
deuce. Our hest minces are Van En.
mend and Idzara, both of whom after
a period of acgltainteuee with, Jones,
became hoetLle to him, and the more
weight is to be attached to their
statements in that they were at en-
titieat enmity with ,each other. When
a Radical and a Tory agree about a
man, they are Likely to be right. Now
Van Egmand does not deny Jones a
measure of business ability. He has
no criticism of Jones' first four years
in the Tract, other than that public(
affairs proceeded at a snail's pace,
and he states • that • Jones showed
much affability and even a certain
portion of good will toward the set-
tlers.4 As late as 1837; in suggesting
that the Huron Tract should be man-
aged separately from the company's
crown reserves, Van Egmond says
• that Jones would be, competent bo
look after theses The newcomer to
Huron whom we have mentioned as
correspondent of the Western Mer-
cury, declared in 1834 that the Com-
pany's humane and talented commis
sioper paid a half -yearly visit to the
Tract, and if any complaint was pre-
ferred or grievance laid before him,
it was immediately attended to "with
that urbanity and genitlemanl . cone -
duct which so eminently characterizes
Mr. Jones"6 Even if this praise be
discounted as the product of a pass-
ing enthusiasm, we must remember
that Jones could not have 'retained,
his position for over twenty years
without showing his employers more
profit than loss. On the whole, it,
seems hard to deny Jong a measure
of financial and administrative abil-
ity or a share in such of the com-
pany's policies as lightened the bur-
dens of the settlers. He could even,
acquire a certain following; he cultic
vated Irishmen especially, and won
tbeir ,.support, Learning .of Richard
Lowe's misfortune, he seems to have
compensated this man and. so won
him away from Van Egmond, and in
1838 Lowe spoke of Jones' unwearied
industry and. application to business,
his combination of the urbanity of a
gentleman with the feelings of a phil-
anthropist, 'his habit of attending to
every just cause of complaint and re-
dressing every real "grievance. The
eulogy was excessive, but it shows
chat Jones could exercise °diplomatic
ability when be chose to do so,7
At the'sane time it is cleat that
he made serious mistakes .in respect
of public works, the sale of the land,
the choice of subordinates, and that
in dealing with dissatisfied persons;
he sbowecl all the qualities of the
weasel and the fox. We 'have men-
tioned the grave error about the
corduroy on the Huron 'road which
cost the company £7.409 15s. 3d.
'Phis.. however, could be excused, for
the contracts were let in 1829 when
Jones was new to his job and to the
country, and he took more care with
the other road's. His ,bridges, bow -
ever, were generally failures., "In
four or five years almost every bridge
along' the roads required renewal,"
declared the Colborne men. The com-
pany built a bridge over the Bayfield
river on the London road in 1835 and
had to replace it by a new one next
year, which was "nearly ruined" in
1840. The bridge over the ,Maitland
acquired Local fame as en example of
mismanagement. Promised many a
time„ •it was begun in 1838: The en-
fiELD SERVI
il.
With °li the anxious watching and waiting
that precedes the ripening of a crop, the
harvest itself seems to descend with "Blitz-
krieg" speed.
• And once on, speed is the essence of
success—for delay may be costly to the
farmer.
Heavy crops in down and tangled condi-
tion giverise to problems in harvesting
methods .and, equipment operations and
throw excessive strains on much worn parts
Ort old, reliable machines. ' -
It is then that the farmer appreciates the
real value of farm machine service as
rendered. by Massey -Harris.
Competent men with experience in field
problems and service that takes years
to acquire, and a system that provides
for the ready availability of parts for
any of its machines, no matter how old,
so as to avoid costly delays, are what
have earned for Massey -Harris the enviable
reputation which it has long enjoyed as—
IHE SERVICE ARM OF THE CANADIAN
FARM."
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MA S Y-HARRI COMPANY LIMITED
BUILDERS OF GOOD FARM IMPLEMENTS SINCE",.1847
,
gineer brought timber and built cribs,
although much better buttresse's
Could have beent made feet the stone
of either • bank of the river and the
easily available lime. So little did he
know about even his cribs that they
were badly built and badly founded,,
and sfhoptuly damaged by the river in
November, 1838. Now he quarried
stone on the banks, threw it into
piers and had, the bridge up by Octo-
ber, 1839, only to see it collapse next
Manch: under pressure of the aces
There was fault not only with the
construction, but with the financing
of this bridge. A private contractor
had offered to ,build and guarantee it
for two years for £600; Jones in
1837 estimated £ 1,800, but the cost
in 1839 was £ 4,000. 'the high figure
was• due at least in part to "graft?'
Jones did not advertise the contracts
but let them privately to persons con-
nected with the oo,mpany. One such
person named ,Morgan Hamilton quar-
ried and furnished the stone for $8 a
'cord, while the Goedings offered, $7
in, vain and the building committee of
Huron County bad had a similar job
done for $5.9 Here there is no room
for excuse; Jones was playingfast
and loose, nob only "with the people
of Colborne, but with has own em-
pipyers, the company, and: with the
government, since this expenditure
was charged to the public works
fund,
His management of eom.munica-
tions.'showed a fault 'of a different or-
der to the mind of the inhabitants,
that of parsimony. He did, indeed,
keep up the Huron road and the Lon-
don road in' as good' condition as
could be expected. Patrick Shirreff
was net impressed by either. .Refer-
ring to the corduroy, he says: "Most
travellers speak of it with -horror;
and without meaning to praise it, I
must say it was by far the best and
smoothest portion of the Goderich
roads. The roots projecting from the
stumps in a slanting direction (i.e.
where there •was no corduroy) kept
the wheels and axles of our wagon
moving up and down like the beam
of a.. steam ,engine." This movement
he naturally found "ann,oydng to us
and fatiguing to the horses, especial-
ly between Van Egmond's tavern and
London."10 It would seem frpm this
that the Huron road was slightly less..
rough than the London one. But Pat-
rick` was. a visitor, accustomed to
the smooth roads of Britain and ex-
acting , ie his demands. Dissatisfied
Huronites like Van Egmond and Liz -
ars did not complain of the main
roads; indeed Van-Egmond says that
the constant answer of the company',s
agents to complaints was an appeal
to the good' roads. We may take it
that the two main roads were well
looked after. One of tbe smaller ones
was not so; that at the terminus of
Bayfield was impassable for several
years and even in 1840 the people
were obliged to go thirty miles by
way of the junction of the two roads
in order to reach Goderich, instead
of the 1.3% of the direct line between
the two settlements. Bayfield in don -
sequence was "ruined and almost de-
serted" by 1840. ' The road to -Gode-
rich mill was normally bad in the
spring and. fall, and in 1843 the Col-
bornites counted fifty miles of us•e-
lese roads- Some waste is inevitable
in road -making ,and the accusation
was only. /partly justified. Bad -or
useless roads were the exception ra-
ther than the rule and the roads
were :perhaps only a minor blot on
the administration of Jones if all be
considered, although the men of Col-
borne • saw otherwise.il
Communications other than roads,
howevert, were defective. The com-
pany's advertisements announced a
regular stage service from Hamilton
to • Goderich, but only once or twice
hard this stage run by the year 1840.
More important was the affair of •the
steamboat_ Such, a vessel had been
promised in 1828 and Galt had col-
lected timber for it. but when he left,
this was "allowed -to rot: In the, fall
of 1833 the keel of a steamboat was
laid and in April, 1834, she was.,
hed ' he, plied to Sandwich in
that year and the next. But in 1836
on the plea that the boat was unable
to cross the bar in the harbor which
was supposed to be unusually high,
the agents laid the' boat up. They
constructed what professed to he a
dredge, but it would not work, and
this, said Jones, was of no conse-
quence; as she had been built with
item only to amuse the public. In
1837 the agents got her out and she.
made some trips; ,she made another
in 1838 and in May, 1839, was run
down and sunk by an American
steamer In the Detroit River. In no
year had she paid expenses, By 1840
no attempt :had been made to replace
her, much to the disgust of the peo-
ple of the lake shore "and particular-
ly of Colborne. Yet the company's
advertisements in 'the New York and
Canadian papers declared that the
steamer sailed once 'a week to Sand-
wich and once a fortnight to Buffalo,
although she bad never made more
than two or three 'trips to the lat-
ter ,port. After 1840, the commission-
ers arranged for a steamer from De-
troit to call at Goderiob once a week,
and let it go at 013,02
Of a piece with the steamboat was
the grist mill serving the thereships
of Goderich and Colborne, which
achieved a 'local fame comparable
only to that of the bridge over the
Maitland. The settler, says Lizars,
leaves, bis three or tour bushels• of
wheat there far week% It is ground
in small lots and he may take it
'home a bushel or a half -bushel at a
time, as the mill: 'often stops for
weeks for lack of tro*er. James S•tev-
ene, John Allan and Others of Col-
borne ® had ha -Veiled five to seven
mile* intend and mite with a bushel
ormd`re of wheat on -their backs and
bad to return for it three or four it was during the arrtn'I:ent over the
I
thntes, wasting t1 day each tins.. • In
fairness to the, compante it mast be
stated that its tether grist m lle (for
all but twa iu 1840 were the cony,-
pany'.$) . appear to have functioned,
Mara .regglarly, and peahops this of
Colborzle was again the ereeptio:n ra-
ther than the' rule.. The apparent
negligence of Jones in respeet of the
stage, the boat and the mill no doubt
sprang Prete a policy ' of right econ-
omy on such public workeea
But if he saved'inoney in this way,,
he wasted it in another. He made a'
contract with two Americans, Brew-
ster and Smart, of Sable Mills, for all
the lumber .{rem their sawmill, in or-
der to establish a monopoly. They
held the company to its word, added
another .,pair of saws and relay of
men and poured out the lumber, sev-
eral milions of feet of its soon lying
exposed et Goderieh. The agents
then sent Dr. Dunlop to• Sandwich
for a whole season to Sell some of
the boards, to Atnericans, but in vain -
as be was subject to too many re-
strictions and found a general objec-
tion to the quality of his lumber`, and
to its price, as high as $12 a thou-
sand.. Several hundred ,thousand feet
•of this lumber at Goderich was swept
away by the river cad lake, and. in
this way £5,000 to £8,000 worth was
lost. To add :insult to injury, the
transportation of Dunlop's lumber to
Sandwich ruined the steamboat, says
Lizars, and was the chief reason for
its being lost.14 Altogether, Jones'
management of contracts left much
to be desired. Had his etnployers
been aware of his failures, • be could
hardly have kept his job. but some-
how he was able to hoodwink ,them.
We may have a clue to his procedure
in his statements of expenditure of
the government money, the £ 48,000
allowed for public works. He charg-
ed to this• account no less than £250
for the bridge over the Bayfield river
in 1830, whioh would have been clear
at onetflfth of that amount, and ap-
parently £400 for a floating foot
bridge 'of a few plank's Over the Malt -
lend for the use, of the company's
workmen when £ 1'00 says Lizars,
would have been excessive.l5 Jones
no doubt was ..an expert in the man-
ipulation of accounts, , The supervi-
sion of tthese expenditures by the
governor and council of the province
was only nominal, for they . referred
all questions about the company to
William Allan, enedutive councillor
and commissioner with Jones. Jones
no doubt +hoodwinked his father-in-
-law, Archdeacon Strachan, who. was
also on the cowncil, and within lim-
its, he could juggle accounts at his
pleasure as he was defrauding no,
definite individual or group. We may
s•ay, for in,stanee, that, a_ rigid super-
visor would not have allowed the
crmmpany to charge the turnpiking of
the Huron road to the public works
fund. He would have insisted that
this job was due to an error in Jones'
plans for the road in the first place,
and that ,it must be paid for, but .of
the company's own money. There is.
no doubt thatthe company's expen-
ditures were not subject to a -severe
examination. Jones' policy seems to
have been to resist the construction
of public works as long as possible,
to maintain his reputation for econ-
omy with the directors of the com-
pany; but once they had sanctioned
some work, he soured the chance to
be good to himself and his friends
out of tbe flow of money.
The defects .of the company's pub-
lic works could perhaps .have been
borne if other•aspects of Jones' man-
agement had been satisfactory to the
settlers. But they had complaints of
his policies in the sale" of land and, of
the conduct of his associates. The
first settlers, a shifting lot, were not'
well able to voice their dissatisfac-
tion,"but in 1832 and 1833 a fair flow
of migration occurred and a number
of well-to-do.people arrived who knew
how to say. what they thought. Among
the newcomers were some Scots gen-
tlemen and; •their families,- who bought.
land• in Colborne township. Of this
group were Daniel Lizars, Henry
Hyndman, T. W. Luard, the Kippers,
Lawsons, Clarkes and others,' and
they became known as the Colborne
Clique.16 They made friends with
Dr. Dunlop and his brother, Captain
R. G. Dunlop, ,a retired naval officer,
who • bad copse toj Huron and was
commander of the company's steam-
boat when it was in service. In spite
of some unpleasant experiences at the
hands of minor agents' 'of the 'com-
pany,
company, t'he men of Colborne were at
first inclined to think well of Jones.
But it was not long before friction
developed.
These men had paid for their farms
and wanted to see the Tract settled;
the value ef�their land increased, "pub-
lic works carried out and' the ameni-
ties of life cultivated. In every one
of these hopes they were doomed to
long disappointment, for Jones adopt-
ed the policy of• raising the price of
land at every excuse until it stood,
much above that of , Crown lands.
Whether solely, as a result of this pol-
icy or not, immigration fell off in
1834 and hadalmost eeased, by 1840
if Lizars 'is had.
He became
anxious, as was Van Egtnond, 'whom:
we shall consult later en in this tops
is„ za
and, he (Lines) and some friends'
submitted a, plan' to encourage mi-•
gration from Great Britain tb Jones
in 1836, depicting the calamities
which would follow neglect of it But
Jones rejected the plan and nothing
was done. Further, the'dompany was
reserving to itself the lots pos•s'essing
potential hydraulic power, Int exam-
ple- 1,000 acres called the Falls Re-
serve.17 Accordingly lone of the rich-
est and 'ln'ost fertile Wheat areas in
the province was practically neglect-
ed by, settlers, who could -get land
much more cheaplyelsewhere, and,
says Lizars, in 1840 the Tract con-
tained 4,500 people instead of 55,000
as it might have done if a proper eh-
oouragement bad been given to immi-
grations and loans made to people
anxious to set up intdnistrles. Lizars
was •perhaps too optimistic in think-
ing 55,000 to be the :correct figure for
the population of Huron in 1840, but
there is no doubt that 4,500 were too
few and that ..thee Tract,- large and
unoccupied as it was, dldh not tgets its
share •of the great Inoreas'e (270,000)
in the population) of the province from
1825 to 1840.18
To the •grievance ,About land was.
"added the grievanr✓e about public
works, the grist milt, the poverty of
the one road in Colborne, and the `ab-
sence of a bridge over the Maitland.
b#4dge that tho then of Colborne had
a' ohalw to discover eo1A,'Ptbllflfi 'of
Jones' ,,. ,aractet, • ThVir towul„glhip is
separat trona, GletlericinI by the Mait-
land weer h 74zara deaagrllaes as brad,
deep Arid rapid aiLct at tithes impasse
able 'for several days, althiquig Shir-
reff in August, 1833, felted dt a mere
brook, unable to float a canoe. No
doubt the volu'm:e of water in it
fluctuated, as it still doss, and a
bridge is a necessity for the people
of . Colborne. In the winter of Couree,
nature cared for the problem, but in
summer the people depended on an
"expensive" ferry for passengers at a
shilling a passage and two precarious
fords for teams.. When the. company
had opened the township, Jones had
Pledged a bridge e%plioIty to Michael
Fisher Zn 1830 to induce him to buy
5,-6,000 acres, to Lizars . +hlms,elf and
to , the Reverend William Horne in
1833. The next year, the settlers had
many conferences with Jones, prior
and Dr. Dunlop, but were put off by
a ,plea of the expense, estiinated at
£ 1,800. In December of that year the
men of Colborne {held a public meet-
ing and elected a committee, 'of which
Hyhdnlan was "chairman. This body
examined seven miles of the river for
two .days and finally recommended a
site near the grist m411. In Febru-
ary, 1835, Lizars and tificbal1 Fisher
were deputed to go tot the mmnis-
sioners in Toronto with a petition
"numerously signed," to ask them to
fulfill their pledges. Jones was in
England at the time, however; but
Dunlop sent him a letter in support
of the request, acknowledging the
pledge. On Jones' return the matter
was taken up with him in August,
1835. He insisted that the company
could not afford a bridge and, that its
interest in .Colborne ,.was small any-
way, as most of its land there was
sold,. It was not the company's pol-
icy to do much for settled buyers, he
continued; they rather directed im-
provements to• the unsettled parts of
the 'Tract. But if the settlers in Col-
borne would contribute to the bridge,
he might consider doing something.
This was .• an invitation to' go, hang,
and the men of Colborne refused it.
Late in 1835, 'however, Jones, put
up the floating foot 'bridge ,f/or the
use of the workmen as we :have men-
tioned, a temporary affair, and in the
fall of that year he made a ''mock
contract" with the Goodings for a
draw -bridge over the harbor mouth
The men of Colborne metagain
to
protest against the site, but Jones
suborned the chairman, David Clarke,
to refuse to sign `a copy of the min-
utes, by changing the course of the
lake road (to Ashfield) 1% miles to
ease_ his farm. The settlers met
again it January, 1837, passed a vote
of censure on Clarke for his delin-
quency ,and got up a petition to both
Houses of the Legislature, to be' car-
ried by Lizars and Henry Hyndriman.
These two told the commissioners,
Jones and Allan, of their intention
and' conferred with Jones. They urg-
ed the gristmill site and produced an
offer from a contractor to build and
guarantee the bridge two years:. for
£600, where Jones had mentioned
£1,800. Jones accepted the plan and
promised to meet. the pair at Gode-
rich on their return, to conclude the
business. In these circumstances, the
two did not present the ,plttition to the
Legislature. Jones had thus attained
his end, and on his return to God,e-
rich, denied the promise. It was too
late for another petition, as th'e Leg-
islature ,had adjourned. The rebel-
lion of 1837 took the men of Colborne
to the front and led to fuller 'views
of Jones' duplicity, which do not con-
cern us here The drawbridge was
indeed erected but it was only a
makeshift, and the story of the bridge
from 1838 to 1840 has already been
• narrated. By 1840 the men of Col
borne were at daggers drawn with
'Jones; Hypdman was writing to the
British Colonist and Lizars was mak-
ing up his report. Already in t'he
winter of ' 1836-37, Thomas William
Luard .had petitioned the House of
Assembly' about the "gross miscon-
duct" of T. M. Jones- But at that
time most of bis friends had not gone
so far; they. were merely displeased
with Jones•'•and suspicious of +him,
but were not ready to break openly
with hi r9
rm.
If Jones gave offence by .his....cun_
ring arid;' sec -Wt; Tsonie of hits aides
did so by neglect and, insolence. Liz -
ars bumself had a• taste of these qual-
itiee on his arrival in Goderich in
1833. The company's circular; which
had induced him tot migrate, had
mentioned an, allowance for free' pass-
age to settlers from Quebec to the
head of Lake Ontario, and he. natur-
ally hoped to benefit by this bounty.
He paid 'his own • way by the. Erie
canal to Buffalo and thence to De-
troit. There he bad a wait.,of twelve
days for a vessel to take him• to God-
erich.. He finally obtained a passage,
but the ship was in immient peril on
the lake and, was wrecked in the
•mouth of the harbor, ,although the
people saved their lives and property,
Charles,Prior, in charge forthe com-
pany at the time,' simply ignored
their plight. Lizars applied for the'
allowance for passage money and' was
told that the company had long dis-
continued it. Making the best, of the
situation, he sought ,to obtain, land,
and found "every obstacle” of "pam-
pered insolence of office" in his way,
to defeat his intentions. He would
,havegone back to Scotland but for
his wife and family and a second.
thought, that he might await the re-
turn of IDr. Dunlop, absent at the
time. The doctor presently came
back, gave this best help and Lizars•
.
secured 'his land ie Oolborne,2e ,
This was Lizars' inteedutetion to
Charles Prior and hist staff. Prior
was , agent and supeintendent of
works for the company for some.
years, anfd bad been -one of the orig-
inal appointees. He had a winning
and plausible urbanity towards equals
and superiors, says Lizars, but to the
humble ,settler he was by turns rude,
tyrannical, inantessible. Worse, he
was -devoid of business habits 'and
knowledge of cominvercial technique
end .quite unfit for the onerous tasks
imposed on him. He kept no books.
of receipts or fdlisbursem,ente and the
commissioners eennived at this and,
permitted shim • tti..nenc1 bis bundle -of,
"vouehers" tmcs"hediced to 'their ao-
countant in Toronto, Who had to .con-
coct n„"balafoe sheet" trona them. In
these eirdunmtafees he began to em-
bezzle 'money • belonging to the com-
pany and the settlers, defaulted and
was d4seharged in 1836. The com-
0/1010ER, 6,.'' 1940
witlh
Dr, Chase's
Kidney -Liver Pills
One every week
pany (proclaimed him publicly as un-
fit to be trusted but admitted no re-
sponsibility for his fraud's- But Jones.
still ,extended a friendly hand •to him.
When Jones got rid of his mistress,
as we have seen, he handed her over
tb • Prior, and Prior maintained the
woman until at least, 1840. Prior had
also permitted a "noorious strumpet"
by the 'name of Collins to be brought
into Goderich .in his period of power,
and in 1835 he outragettcommen dec-
ency by introducing her to several re-
spectable families and even to Mrs.
Jones. .Yet he remained in Goderich
after his discharge, had a farm, and,
became a J.P., doubtless by the in-
fluence of Jones.=
Prior was involved also 112 a case
of breach of trust: A person named
James Hamilton had obtained a eon-
sidereble sumof money "surrep-
titiously" from individuals in Gode-
rich, and in October, 1835, he ab-
sconded , to the Skates 22 In New
York he hada fit of conscience, how-
ever, and wrote a letter to his wife
in Goderich asking her to convey his
property to trustees on behalf of hie
creditors, and named Prior and E. C.
Taylor as the trustees, being appar-
ently not well acquainted with either.
Taylor was trying to make a living
out of finance in Goderioh; in 1835
he had a private bank . • and issued
notes, and he was in "other ventures, •
most of which seem to have tailed.
Lizars acted as witness for the deed
of conveyance of Hamilton's proper-
ty to. Prior and Taylor, also -..to a
separate deed of trust describing the
purposeof the conveyance. Taylor
now advertised for parties to put in
their claims, and so far followed reg-
ular procedure, but no :longer. Prior
made a sham sale to Taylor of his
interest in the property and Taylor
thereupon ' conveyed [he whole to his
own creditors in defiance of the trust
deed and the letter of instructions..
Prior was thus an accessory to a -
fraud on Hamiiton's creditors,. but
this did net act as a disqualification
for a justiceship -.of the .peace under
the regime of Thomas Mercer Jones.28
When . Prior lost his position with
the company, however, the 'Huron:
Tract passed from King Log to King
,Stork, for a worse succeeded him_
John Longworth had been a private
in the '+sappers i0. the Peninsula war,
and had left the service with a pen-
sion of sixpence a day. . For some
time he lived in Westmeath near Ath-
lone, Ireland, with his wife and seven
children, the, marriage having taken
place in 1813- In 1830 he deserted
his family and made his 'Way to Up-
per Canada- He had secured creden-
tials from Lord Hill, who had been a
high ranking officer in 'that British
army in that war, and nowhe, pres-
ented these to tile Governor-Gneral,
Sir James. Kempt, and so obtained a
job as overseer on the -Rideau Canal
at Mud Lake. About 1832 he came
to Toronto and married the reputed
barmaid of a tavern without having
severed the - tie with his first wife •
and family. He now• took service with
.the Canada Company as overseer and
attracted the attention of Jones. He
was sent to Goderich where eventual-'
ly be took Prior's place as agent in
oharge,24-
In the interval, however, • he had
domestic difficulties. His first wife,.
Esther Longworth, and her family
(Continued, on Page 7) .
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