Series 3 - McConnell-Johnson letters

337pp

Copies of the transcripts of the McConnell-Johnson Letters, specifically P155/46/3/2 through 56, were provided to Kerby A. Miller by the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library. These transcripts had been deposited in the library by historian Dr. Edwin Seaborn, creator of the transcripts, in 1943. The original letters, originally donated by Seaborn to the London (Ontario) Public Library, are now held in the Regional Collection, The D.B. Weldon Library, Western University (University of Western Ontario) [see McConnell Family Correspondence - 1848-1888, Dr. Edwin Seaborn fonds, Western Archives reference number AFC 20-S5-SS2-F13].
The reproduction of P155/46/3/1 was provided to Kerby A. Miller by Edward Phelps, Regional Collection Librarian, University of Western Ontario (Western University) per letter of 29 March 1990. The original letter was donated to Western by Louise Wyatt, editor of Ontario History (journal). She authorised Western to allow Miller to publish the letter as long as it was done so 'in its entirety to preserve the textual integrity of this unusual document'.

Materials pertaining to a set of 56 letters, composed between 1848 and 1888, written to or by Jane Nettleton (née McConnell, later Johnson) and her first husband Henry Johnson.
McConnell married Johnson at Shanoguestown (Muckamore) Meeting House beside Oldstone, Antrim, in May 1845, when she was 21 and Johnson was 25. From a small shopkeeping background, near Ardmore, Lough Neagh, her family was Presbyterian. Henry Johnson, a Methodist, worked in the wool and grocery trades in Antrim town. In 1848, he was imprisoned in Carrickfergus Gaol for debt. Henry Johnson emigrated to Canada West (now Ontario) in July 1848. Henry held a number of jobs in various Golden Horseshoe towns. Henry seems to have left Canada West circa 23 April 1849, for he has a letter of reference of that date. Johnson made his way to Montreal, worked there for a W. Bready (or Brady?) and boarded with a Mr. Bridgeman, and died of cholera in the city hospital on 4 July 1849, aged 29 years; his death was recorded in the registry where he was buried.
Jane Johnson left Antrim town alongside her brother Langford McConnell and his wife in May 1849 intending to meet Henry at Quebec upon arrival, but he died shortly before they arrived. Jane lived with her sister at London, Canada West for 9 months. Sometime in early 1850, Jane marries William Nettleton, age 53, of Belfast and settled in Adelaide Township west of London.
The series includes: biographical notes on Henry and Jane Johnson; Louise Wyatt’s article ‘The Johnson Letters’ (in Ontario History 11, 1948) featuring transcripts of 12 letters (letters 1 through 12) written by or to Henry and Jane between 1848 and 1850; transcripts of 55 letters (letters 2 through 56) created by historian Dr. Edwin Seaborn; a reproduction, and Kerby A. Miller’s transcript of, Henry Johnson’s letter (letter 1) to Jane of 18 September 1848; secondary research on Ontario locations associated with the Johnsons; and 1990 correspondence between Wyatt and Miller.