1808 in Canada

Incumbents

• Monarch: George III

Federal government

• Parliament of Lower Canada: 4th (until April 27)
• Parliament of Upper Canada: 4th (until March 16)

Governors

• Governor of the Canadas: Robert Milnes
• Governor of New Brunswick: Thomas Carleton
• Governor of Nova Scotia: John Wentworth
• Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland: John Holloway
• Governor of Prince Edward Island: Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres

Events

• David Thompson explores Kootenay River.
• Simon Fraser follows Fraser River to the Pacific.
• The American Fur Company is chartered by John Jacob Astor to compete with Canadian fur trade
• The Upper Canada Militia Act 1808 states that all males between ages of sixteen and sixty are required to enroll as militiamen and are to be called out once a year for exercises
• The Legislative Assembly of Quebec criticizes the swearing-in of Ezekiel Hart because he is of Jewish faith, and votes his expulsion.

Births

• April – Charles Wilson, politician (d.1877)
• April 7 – John Langton, businessman, political figure and civil servant (d.1894)
• April 10 – William Annand, 2nd Premier of Nova Scotia (d.1887)
• April 25 – Malcolm Cameron, businessman and politician (d.1876)
• August 15 or September 16 – Charles Fisher, politician and 1st Premier of the Colony of New Brunswick (d.1880)
• September 14 – Edwin Atwater, businessperson and municipal politician (d.1874)
• October 20 – Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau, lawyer, businessman and politician (d.1894)

Deaths

• November 10 : Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, military and governor
• Peter Russell (politician), judge

Historical documents

Treasury Secretary tells President Jefferson that unless there's change in European affairs, "I see no alternative but war. But with whom?"

British newspaper reports 5,000 troops are on transports at Portsmouth to sail to North America accompanied by 5 ships of the line

British foreword to U.S. pamphlet labels "affairs of the United States" important since U.S. became commercial rivals and "challengers in war"

U.S. embargo on trade has given Canada and Nova Scotia sole access to Europe and West Indies, formerly markets of northern states

Embargo means Canadas' "commercial intercourse with the States must increase," as will ship construction and trade in hemp and naval stores

Total 116 British ships of the line (2 in North America) along with 50-gun warships are naval force "superior to that of the whole world beside"

John Jacob Astor seeks approval of U.S. government to take continental fur trade away from Canada

Lower Canada

Lower Town Quebec City deserves proper fire insurance coverage because its layout relative to winds and river make it less vulnerable to fire

House of Assembly committee reports that provincial bank would reduce loss of specie in unfavourable balance of trade with U.S.A.

Defeated candidate in Assembly election in Trois-Rivières petitions it not to seat winner Ezekiel Hart as he is Jewish and can't take oath

Assembly passes "An Act for disabling Judges from being elected, or from sitting and voting in the House of Assembly" (defeated in Council)

Winner of Assembly seat for Huntingdon County thanks voters for seeing through rival's "falsehoods, the most gross and most barefaced"

To be established: "An Academy for the instruction of all Members [elected] to serve in the ensuing House of Assembly" who can't read or write

Vermont town meetings are being held to seek embargo repeal, which would be better than exporting timber by force on Lake Champlain

Young Army officers are advised to play billiards to learn "dislodging[...]an enemy; taking a secure position; making famous coups de main" etc.

Dancing teacher will show children "the present style of dancing, conceiving it of no utility to [teach] steps and figures of the Old School"

Aging bachelor who "dislikes contradiction and has been accustomed to have his own way" seeks patient, calm, middle-age woman housekeeper

Upper Canada

Beginning five years of study with lawyer, Sandwich man tells his brother of local "apprehensions of war" with U.S.A.

Isaac Brock is alerted to U.S. troop movements to Detroit and Great Lakes, and capture of British boats carrying supplies to Indigenous people

Lt.-Gov. Gore sent for because of Indigenous people's "very violent resolutions" on blockage of their annual supplies by U.S. officials

(Probably) John Norton's ideas for increasing financial support for Indigenous peoples on Grand River and moving them to reserve near Lake Huron

Elite grammar school in Cornwall affords excellent education "without endangering the morals of the pupils by the contagion of the vices of a city"

Lake Erie Anglican mission reports "900 Papists, 200 Protestants, Professors of the Church 150, Scotch Dissenters 50 [and 5,000] Heathens and Infidels"

Parishioners' contract in call to minister in Williamsburg township details his duties and annual salary, food supplies and firewood

"Be not puffed up nor exalted one above another" - in meekness and diffidence, Friends know they are saved by grace "and that not of ourselves"

While noting settlers' limited diet, St. Joseph Island merchant derides Indigenous use of fish (Note: racial stereotypes)

Nova Scotia

N.S. and New Brunswick are key to Britain for their large and convenient harbours, and their ability to supply British West Indies when U.S.A. won't

Convoy of ships to West Indies carries fish, oil, claret and brandy, lumber, staves and shingles, flour, bread, meat, rice etc.

Because of rebellion in Spain against French domination, dozens of Spanish prisoners of war in Halifax are freed and sent to Havana

"Loyal and spirited behaviour" of Acadian militia regiment is noted when it supplies more than required number of volunteers for duty

"Your petitioners are far from pretending to advocate Slavery as a System," but want such still-legal ownership either secured or compensated

Resident says Shelburne people are uneasy about local Indigenous people, but he finds them not dangerous, just "almost every Day Beging about town"

Minister says that of more than 400 families in his township, only 36 are Anglican, "the rest being nondiscripts of no settled principles"

New Brunswick

Feeling they were not called up legally, militiamen are deserting to go farm and fish, there being not enough workers to cover for them

Widow of Assembly member who drowned in 1803 and left her with 5 small children and estate "found insolvent" petitions for "pecuniary relief"

Ship anchored in Bliss Harbour travels 3 miles at 15 knots before anchor cable is cut, freeing whale that was probably chasing herring

Newfoundland

Instead of land grant, fishery is regulated by giving fishing room to applicant who then has exclusive right to fish adjacent waters

Anglican missionaries in Newfoundland, numbering only three, preach at St. John's, Harbour Grace and Carbonear, and Trinity "An Abstract of the Proceedings of the Society; Newfoundland," A Sermon Preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts[....] (1808), pgs. 33–4 Accessed 13 September 2024

Labrador

Inuit "miserably manage" their children's education "and harm must almost inevitably ensue from their very habits of living together" Letter from Hopedale (August 26, 1808), 1806-1810, vol. 04: Periodical accounts relating to the missions of the Church of the United Brethren established among the heathen, pg. 323 (frame 361 of 574), Memorial University of Newfoundland. Accessed 24 September 2024

"Comfort, instruction, and spiritual refreshment" - Missionaries disappointed when supply ship brings no letters or texts from war-torn Germany

Hudson's Bay Company

Ice breakup floods Fort Albany, with water rising even higher than "dreadful deluge" of 1794 and dark of night adding "to the terror of the Scene"

Albany men damage fur bundles by putting them in canoe with seams "so much opened by the sun so as admit a mans finger" and then not drying them

Elsewhere

British are losing claims to Michigan properties because of "American rascality" and U.S. law requiring continuous cultivation of land

Prince Edward Island has black birch (Betula nigra), which is used in shipbuilding, has light colour like mahogany and "takes as good a polish"

Painting: old soldier tells his story

References

References

1. (31 December 2015). "George III". Royal Household.
2. [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-8414 Letter to Thomas Jefferson from Albert Gallatin] (August 3, 1808), U.S. National Archives. Accessed 26 September 2024
3. "The fleet of Transports[....]" ("Feb. 2"), The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269083 April 7, 1808] pg. 2, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also [https://preserve.lib.unb.ca/winslow/20240320210528/https://web.lib.unb.ca/winslow/fullimagerecord.cgi?id=13789&level=3 word] that Gen. George Prevost has arrived in Halifax with 3,000 men, and also word as of March 15 in England ([https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269087 pg. 2 (3rd column)] that there would be "no rupture with America") Accessed 29 August 2024
4. [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.38163/6 "The Advertisement to This Edition"] ''The British Treaty'' (1808). Accessed 13 September 2024
5. "Portland, Monday, August 1, 1808; When Mr. Jefferson and his party[....]," Portland (Maine) Gazette, and Maine Advertiser (August 1, 1808), [https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83016082/1808-08-01/ed-1/?sp=3 pg. 3, column 1] Library of Congress. (See also [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-2540 letter] from New York City saying 150 shipping workers have left for Nova Scotia and many others might, and also Massachusetts Sen. Timothy Pickering's [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.56783/6 Senate speech] criticizing embargo, plus other criticism, including [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.57339/6 here] and [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.57333/6 here]) Accessed 12 September 2024
6. "But it becomes an object of serious consideration[....]," The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660684 January 18, 1808] pg. 23 (centre column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-8322 report] of several shipments from U.S. into Canada, and also [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-2999 report] of flour and other cargo delivered by U.S. vessels to British ships for export to Caribbean) Accessed 17 September 2024
7. "British Navy," The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269103 July 14, 1808] pg. 2 (3rd column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 23 September 2024
8. [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-7500 Letter to Thomas Jefferson from John Jacob Astor] (February 27, 1808), U.S. National Archives. Accessed 26 September 2024
9. "The Quebec Gazette; Quebec: Thursday, December 1, 1808; On Saturday morning last[....]," The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269135 December 1, 1808] pg. 2, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269140 further details] (pg. 1, 4th column) on subject of Lower Town and fire) Accessed 23 September 2024
10. "Mr. Richardson from the Committee[....]" (March 4, 1808), Journal of the House of Assembly, Lower-Canada (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00938_17/228 pgs. 226, 228] (See also that [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00938_17/670 "The order of the day(...)"] to send bank bill to Committee of the Whole is discharged and order made to print 400 copies of bill for distribution; also see [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-3867 report] to President-elect Madison that much specie passes along lower Hudson River road to Canada) Accessed 17 September 2024
11. "A petition of Thomas Coffin[....]" (February 10, 1808), Journal of the House of Assembly, Lower-Canada (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00938_17/62 pg. 60] (See also [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00938_17/78 Hart's petition] to be admitted (later denied by Assembly vote), and letters to the editor supporting Hart [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660688 here] (pg. 55, left column) and [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660689 here] (pg. 58, left column) and [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660690 here] (pg. 70, left column)) Accessed 16 September 2024
12. "Resolved, That the Bill do pass[....]" (March 4, 1808), Journal of the House of Assembly, Lower-Canada (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_00938_17/234 pg. 232] (See also [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660694 note] (pg. 103, centre column) that "the bill for disqualifying the Judges from sitting" in Assembly was defeated in Council) Accessed 17 September 2024
13. "To the Free and Generous Electors[....]" (June 6, 1808), The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269095 June 9, 1808] pg. 2, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660707 June 14 notice] (pg. 6, centre column bottom) to Panet and others of their dismissal from militia because suspected to be "Proprietors of a Seditious and Libellous publication") Accessed 23 September 2024
14. "Advertisement," The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660702 May 23, 1808] pg. 166, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 18 September 2024
15. "Vermont and Non-Importation" The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660717 September 5, 1808] pg. 285, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269103 description] (pg. 2, 3rd column) of firing on timber raft near border) Accessed 19 September 2024
16. "Mr. Cary" The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660729 November 28, 1808] pgs. 378–9, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 20 September 2024
17. "Fashionable Dancing" (August 22, 1808), The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660718 September 12, 1808] pg. 296, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 19 September 2024
18. "Wanted," The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660716 August 29, 1808] pg. 279, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 19 September 2024
19. [https://archive.org/details/JohnAskinPapersVolume2/page/n609/mode/2up "News from Detroit"] (April 28, 1808), ''The John Askin Papers; Volume II: 1796-1820'' (1931), pgs. 599-601. Accessed 30 September 2024
20. "From Robert Nichol to Brigadier General Brock" (May 21, 1808), [https://digital.library.yorku.ca/_flysystem/fedora/2023-03/recordsofniagara00crui.pdf ''Records of Niagara No. 42 : 1805-1811''] pgs. 42–3, York University Digital Library. (See also letter immediately following for details of attack on supply boats) Accessed 24 September 2024
21. "Queennstown [sic], Upper Canada, June 16," The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269103 July 14, 1808] pg. 2 (2nd column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 23 September 2024
22. "The following letter[....]" (August 10, 1808), [https://digital.library.yorku.ca/_flysystem/fedora/2023-03/recordsofniagara00crui.pdf ''Records of Niagara No. 42 : 1805-1811''] pgs. 64–8, York University Digital Library. Accessed 24 September 2024
23. "Cornwall Academy," The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660715 August 22, 1808] pg. 269, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 19 September 2024
24. "An Abstract of the Proceedings of the Society; Upper and Lower Canada; The Rev. Mr. Pollard, Missionary at Sandwich[....]," A Sermon Preached before the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts[....] (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.64877/46 pgs. 41–2] Accessed 13 September 2024
25. [https://images.ourontario.ca/Laurier/3079694/data "Call from the St. Lawrence Evangelical Lutheran Parish to John Gunther Weagant, March 1, 1808"] Wilfrid Laurier University Archives & Special Collections. Accessed 24 September 2024
26. "Image 09; Copy of our epistle to Leeds Monthly meeting," [https://cfha.info/AdolphusO-2-2.pdf ''Adolphustown Monthly Meeting Women 1808 – 1824''] frames 8–9, Canadian Friends Historical Association. Accessed 24 September 2024
27. [https://archive.org/details/JohnAskinPapersVolume2/page/n599/mode/2up Letters of John Askin Jr.] (January 13 and 14, 1808), ''The John Askin Papers; Volume II: 1796-1820'' (1931), pgs. 589, 91-2. Accessed 30 September 2024
28. "Nova Scotia and New Brunswick," ''American Encroachments on British Rights, or, Observations on the Importance of the British North American Colonies''[....] (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.29583/67 pg. xliv]. Accessed 13 September 2024
29. "Halifax, June 10," The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269103 July 14, 1808] pg. 2 (2nd column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. (See also editorial (bottom of 2nd column) forseeing industrial development large enough to rival U.S.A. if embargo continues) Accessed 23 September 2024
30. "On Monday last 79 Spaniards[....]" The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660720 September 26, 1808] pg. 309 (left column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 19 September 2024
31. "The Acadians," The Quebec Gazette, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4269085 April 14, 1808] pg. 1 (right column), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 20 September 2024
32. [https://annapolisheritagesociety.com/genealogy/miscellaneous-documents/annapolis-county-slave-owners-petition-1808/ "Annapolis County slave owners’ petition in 1808"] (received January 9, 1808), The Annapolis Heritage Society. Accessed 30 September 2024
33. [https://archives.novascotia.ca/white/file-list/?Search=p883 "883. (Draft of) letter(...)relative to Indians"] (February 15, 1808; truncated), Gideon White Family Papers, Nova Scotia Archives. Access 26 September 2024
34. [https://archives.acadiau.ca/node/869 ''Journal of Rev. John Wiswall''] (September 15, 1808), frame 146, Acadia University. Accessed 16 September 2024
35. "Ward Chipman to President Edward Winslow" (March 30, 1808), [https://ia601305.us.archive.org/12/items/winslowpapersad100raymuoft/winslowpapersad100raymuoft.pdf ''Winslow Papers; A. D. 1776–1826''] (1901), pgs. 612–13 (frames 626–7). (See also [https://preserve.lib.unb.ca/winslow/20240320205232/https://web.lib.unb.ca/winslow/fullrecord.cgi?id=2008&level=2 "Order for disbanding militia, 24 April 1808"]) Accessed 27 September 2024
36. [https://archives.gnb.ca/Search/RS24/DocumentViewer.aspx?culture=en-CA&record=1277 "Petition of Phoebe McMonagle, widow of Hugh McMonagle, requesting aid of the House"] (June 23, 1808), Legislative Assembly: Sessional Records (RS24), Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Accessed 16 September 2024
37. "St. Johns, N.B. Feb. 22," The Quebec Mercury, [https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/3660701 May 16, 1808] pg. 157, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. Accessed 18 September 2024
38. [https://preserve.lib.unb.ca/winslow/20240320210529/https://web.lib.unb.ca/winslow/fullimagerecord.cgi?id=13798&level=3 "Letter from William Knox to Edward Winslow"] (May 4, 1808), pgs. 2–3 Accessed 27 September 2024
39. Letter from Okkak (August 4, 1808), ''1806-1810, vol. 04: Periodical accounts relating to the missions of the Church of the United Brethren established among the heathen'', [https://collections.mun.ca/digital/collection/cns_permorv/id/741/rec/4 pg. 311] (frame 349 of 574), Memorial University of Newfoundland. Accessed 24 September 2024
40. "3rd [May 1808]," [https://pam.minisisinc.com/DIGITALOBJECTS/Access/HBCA%20Microfilm/1M9/B3-A-110.pdf Albany - Post Journal; 1807-1808] frame 13. Accessed 27 September 2024
41. "6th [August 1808]," [https://pam.minisisinc.com/DIGITALOBJECTS/Access/HBCA%20Microfilm/1M9/B3-A-110.pdf Albany - Post Journal; 1807-1808] frame 20. Accessed 27 September 2024
42. [https://archive.org/details/JohnAskinPapersVolume2/page/n619/mode/2up Land title difficulties] (1808), ''The John Askin Papers; Volume II: 1796-1820'' (1931), pgs. 610-15. Accessed 30 September 2024
43. "Prince Edward's island," ''American Encroachments on British Rights, or, Observations on the Importance of the British North American Colonies''[....] (1808), [https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.29583/130 pg. cii]. Accessed 13 September 2024
44. Edward Bird, [https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-old-soldiers-story-19562 The Old Soldier's Story] (1808), Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Accessed 1 September 2024