Series 5 - David McCloy memoir transcript

44pp

Reproduction of a transcript held in PRONI [reference number T2515]. The original manuscript is held in Library and Archives Canada [reference number MG40-R130, volume number: 1].

PRONI's transcript of the memoir of David McCloy. David McCloy was born in 1832 near Ballymena, County Antrim, into a Presbyterian family of small farmers and stonemasons, and his father was an Orangeman and a Freemason. In 1847 he emigrated with his parents and six siblings to join relatives who had settled in the Huron district of Canada West (Ontario). McCloy was the oldest child at 15 years of age. Per Kerby A. Miller: 'Although we have no information about the family's reasons or motives for emigration (other than to join relatives in Ontario), the memoir is superb on the family's sufferings during the voyage and, especially, while traveling upriver from Quebec to Preston, Ontario. In all, David McCloy's father and three of his six siblings died. Another unique feature of the memoir is the description of the crucial aid that the family received from the Freemasons, of which David's father was a member. The memoir covers the period from 1847 to 1858, when David McCloy married and commenced farming on the Ontario frontier, in very rude, rough, pioneer conditions. The memoir is brief but good on McCloy's career, various jobs as farm laborer, etc., on the Ontario frontier, prior to his marriage. Also, again, his memoir is supplemented with data from the family history.' McCloy died in 1917.'

The reference copy of McCloy's memoir, along with Miller's research related to the memoir, is located in P155/18/3.