If you lived in 1820s Colonial Canada, your life would be a constant and ever-present struggle for survival. The land was still wilderness. There were few roads, and those that existed were choked by roots and rocks. Medical care was rudimentary. Goods were expensive. It took months for news to travel from community to community, and years for fashions to catch on.
The average cabin measured 16 feet by 25 feet. It had a dirt floor, but no foundation, and was a drafty, single-story structure heated by a fireplace. It often was without windows, leaving the interior dark and smoky, and providing no escape from blackflies and mosquitos. Frame houses were five to 10 times more expensive. A typical house included a table, a bed, chairs, a chest, a sideboard, candlesticks, bowls, a coffeepot, bottles, pots, a frying pan, utensils and plates.
One fifth of incomes was spent on flour.

A section of the 19th century living history museum, Kings Landing, in early winter garb, northwest of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Common Professions in 1820s Colonial Canada
Farmers
Land was cheap but labor was scarce. The entire colony of New Brunswick needed cleared. Farmers could clear an average of four acres a year, but weeds and young trees were a constant problem. Crops were sewn by hand around tree stumps.
In the Maritimes, farmers were often in debt because of the weather and poor soil. It was a perilous life.
Although horses are usually associated with pre-mechanized farming, oxen were preferred by Canadian colonists. The most common names given to oxen were Buck and Bright.
Other animals found on the farm include cows, pigs, chicken and ducks.
Women cared for the children and the garden and were in charge of making clothing, washing, feeding animals, milking and butter churning.
Large families were common – eight to 10 children – because people married young. Survival rates were high after the first year, but in the 18th century 25 percent of babies died. This rate declined somewhat during the early 19th century.

Harvesting Hay, Sussex, New Brunswick. 1880. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Fishermen
Like farmers, fishermen in the 1820s were poor and often on the edge of starvation. The winter of 1816-17 was harsh with a poor catch.
The fishing industry was based primarily in Newfoundland. Boatkeepers owned their boats and equipment and sold their catch to merchants who resided in England or Ireland.
Rising costs and a labor shortage forced boatkeepers down the social ladder and many began to garden.
Fur Traders
Fur trading was a profession on the decline during the 1820s. By 1824, only 24 trading posts remained, down from 423 at the turn of the century.
A once highly competitive industry, it was controlled by a conglomerate comprised of Hudson Bay Co. and North West Co. The industry was concentrated in Montreal, but business was conducted between the St. Lawrence River and Hudson Bay.

Fur traders in Canada, trading with First Nations people in 1777. Public domain.
Lumberjack
Lumberjacking was a winter profession in Colonial Canada. Until the mid-1820s, companies could operate without a license.
The best trees were 150 feet tall. Men cut them with an ax, then moved them by horse or ox to a waterway where logs were floated to sawmills.
Men often drowned or died of injury.
In addition, farmers supplemented their income by selling lumber.
Politics in 1820s Colonial Canada
American Revolution
More than 100,000 Loyalists fled into the Niagara Peninsula and the Maritimes after the American Revolution, including thousands of blacks fleeing slavery. Claire is the great-granddaughter of these Loyalists who fled north. (As mentioned in Those Left Behind, they were from Massachusetts.)
While still in the 13 rebelling colonies, Loyalists were beaten and imprisoned; men were tarred and feathered; and women and children were exiled. Loyalists’ property was confiscated and their houses burned.
After crossing into the Canadian colonies, families lived in refugee camps and faced starvation, disease and lack of proper shelter. Thousands died during their first Canadian winter. The government provided white refugees with supplies during the first spring, but black refugees waited for up to six years.
By 1812, what is now Ontario had 60,000 residents originally from the United States.

Annual Battersea Revolutionary War Reenactment. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
Founding of New Brunswick
The colony of New Brunswick was formed in 1784 from a division of Nova Scotia that was a result of the American Revolution. Four battles took place in what is now New Brunswick during the revolution, and after the war 14,000 Loyalists traveled north. The new colony was intended to be “a ‘Loyalist colony’ – an asylum that could become ‘the envy of the American states.’”
By 1810, a quarter of 1 percent of New Brunswick’s forests had been cleared. Communities were isolated and didn’t hear news for weeks or even months. Residents were several years to a decade behind fashion, and medical knowledge was poor. Doctors were sometimes paid with hay, fish or pork.
Travel was slow. A horse could travel five or six miles an hour because of the nearly impassable or nonexistent roads. Sleighing on frozen rivers, 60 miles per day was possible.
Crime rates were low, and neighbors helped each other when misfortunes occurred.
Colonists were considered American in habit because servants dined with their employers, and children formed attachments to their parents.
By 1824, the colony had a bit more than 74,170 people.

Miscou Island, New Brunswick. Creative Commons Generic 2.0 license
Fredericton
Claire was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the colonial capital, in 1810. At the time, it was a sleepy village of less than 200 houses, farms and cottages surrounded by forest. The elite members of society’s lives revolved around the government, balls and sleighing parties. The Mi’Kmaq, a First Nations people, lived in a village outside the colonial settlement.
“In 1786, the original Town Plat of streets and lots was surveyed and laid out in a typical grid pattern by Captain Dugald Campbell, a member of the British regiment stationed there at the time,” Fredericton Heritage Trust says, “thus giving credence to the claim that Fredericton is one of the oldest ‘planned’ cities in the commonwealth. The streets reflect the British and Loyalist influence in their names: Queen, King, Brunswick, George and Charlotte.”
The city is the location of the University of New Brunswick, the oldest English-language university in Canada and the first public university in North America.
Commercial districts in communities during the 1810s included shops, a blacksmith, a carriage works, a mill and at least one tavern.

Photo Credit: Knoxfordguy at English Wikipedia
War of 1812
Although many Americans thought the War of 1812 would bring about the annexation of Canada, the majority of Canadian colonists’ lives were undisturbed by the war. The exception was the Niagara Peninsula, where the Americans burned numerous communities.
The war was a prosperous time for the Maritimes, and in Upper Canada (modern Ontario) merchants raised prices.
Claire’s father died during the Battle of Lundy’s Lane within sight of Niagara Falls. The battle occurred on July 15, 1814, and resulted in 2,000 deaths.

War of 1812 British line of soldiers preparing to fire. This picture is from the re-enactment at Fort Erie, Ontario. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
Immigration
During the early 19th century, immigration to Canada came from all parts of the United Kingdom. In 1815, high employment led to emigration notices appearing in Edinburgh for the first time since 1749.
Ships were not required to provide passengers with supplies until 1825. The ships were supposed to carry only 300 passengers legally in 1828, but many ships carried more.
The hold had no light or ventilation. Bunks were arranged in two tiers, six feet square. Ships carried 32 bunks on each side of a 100-foot-by-25-foot hold.