The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4). Dent John Charles
of a colony, in matters of internal regulation, to my entire satisfaction, but was employed in the most confidential measures necessary to preserve the country in peace, without violating, on the one hand, the relations of amity with the United States; and on the other, alienating the affection of the Indian nations, at that period in open war with them. In this very critical situation, I principally made use of Mr. Talbot for the most confidential intercourse with the several Indian Tribes; and occasionally with his Majesty's Minister at Philadelphia; and these duties, without any salary or emolument, he executed to my perfect satisfaction."
It seems to have been during his tenure of office as secretary to Governor Simcoe that the idea of embracing a pioneer's life in Canada first took possession of young Talbot's mind. It has been alleged that his imagination was fired by reading a translation of part of Charlevoix's "Historie Générale de la Nouvelle France," a work which describes the writer's own experiences in the wilds of Canada in a pleasant and easy fashion. This idea is probably attributable to an assertion made by Colonel Talbot himself to Mrs. Jameson, when that lady visited him during her brief sojourn in Upper Canada. "Charlevoix," said he, "was, I believe, the true cause of my coming to this place. You know he calls this the Paradise of the Hurons. Now I was resolved to get to Paradise by hook or by crook, and so I came here." It is much more probable, however, that he was influenced by his own experiences in the Canadian forest, which for him would possess all the charm of novelty, in addition to its natural beauties. He accompanied the Lieutenant-Governor hither and thither, and traversed in his company the greater part of what then constituted Upper Canada. He formed a somewhat intimate acquaintance with the Honourable William Osgoode, the first Chief Justice of this Province, who was for some time an inmate of Governor Simcoe's abode at Niagara — or Newark, as it was then generally called. The Chief Justice felt the isolation of his position very keenly, and was doubtless glad to relax his mind by communion with the young Irish lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the humour characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon companion. At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the misanthrope about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much enjoyment out of life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution was robust, and his disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed fastidious about his personal appearance, and was keenly alive to everything that was going on about him. He was popular among all the members of the household, and was the especial friend of Major Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary, whose name is familiar to most persons who take an interest in the history of the early settlement of this Province.
On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well as upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall1 to explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among whom were Major Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The Major kept a diary during the journey, which was given to the world more than forty years afterwards in the Canadian Literary Magazine, a periodical of which several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834. The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The route lay through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party were entertained by Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater part of the journey being necessarily made on foot. On the return journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future capital of the Province. One important result of this long and toilsome journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or, as it is frequently called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party were delighted with the wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, but not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as young Lieutenant Talbot, who expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south, bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself and several members of his suite with another western excursion. During this journey the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young Lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings around me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.
In 1793 young Talbot received his majority. In 1796 he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifth Regiment of Foot. He returned to Europe, and joined his regiment, which was despatched on active service to the Continent. He himself was busily employed during this period, and was for some time in command of two battalions. Upon the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens, on the 27th of March, 1802, he sold his commission, retired from the service, and prepared to carry out the intention expressed by him to Governor Simcoe nine years before, of pitching his tent in the wilds of Canada. Why he adopted this course it is impossible to do more than conjecture. He never married, but remained a bachelor to the end of his days. One writer ventures the hypothesis that he had been crossed in love. The only justification, so far as we are aware, for this hypothesis, is a half jocular expression of the Colonel's some years afterwards. A friend having bantered him on the subject of his remaining so long in a state of single blessedness, took an opportunity of questioning him about it, and in the course of a familiar chat, asked him why he remained so long single, when he stood so much in need of a help-mate. "Why," said the Colonel, "to tell you the truth, I never saw but one woman that I really cared anything about, and she would'nt have me; and to use an old joke, those who would have me, the devil would'nt have them. Miss Johnston," continued the Colonel, "the daughter of Sir J. Johnston, was the only girl I ever loved, and she wouldn't have me."
Whatever cause may have impelled him, it is sufficiently evident that he had become out of sorts with society, and had resolved to betake himself to a distance from the haunts of civilized mankind. Aided by the influence of ex-Governor Simcoe and other powerful friends, he obtained a grant of five thousand acres of land as a Field Officer meaning to reside in the Province, and to permanently establish himself there. The land was situated in the southern part of the Upper Canadian peninsula, bordering on Lake Erie, and included the site of what afterwards became Port Talbot. This, however, was only a portion of the advantage derivable from the grant. In addition to the tract so conferred upon him he obtained a preëmptive or proprietary right over an immense territory including about half a million acres, and comprising twenty-eight of the adjacent townships.2 For every settler placed by the Colonel on fifty acres of this land, he was entitled to a patent of a hundred and fifty additional acres for himself. He thus obtained practical control of an expanse of territory which, as has been said, was "a principality in extent." Armed with these formidable powers he once more crossed the Atlantic, and made his way to the present site of Port Talbot, which had so hugely attracted his fancy during his tour with Governor Simcoe. He reached the spot on the 21st of May, 1803, and immediately set to work with his axe, and cut down the first tree, to commemorate his landing to take possession of his woodland estate. The settlement which subsequently bore his name was then an unbroken forest, and there were no traces of civilization nearer than Long Point, sixty miles to the eastward, while to the westward the aborigines were still the lords of the soil, and rules with the tomahawk. In this sequestered region Colonel Talbot took up his abode, and literally made for himself "a local habitation and a name."
At the time of his arrival he was accompanied by two or three stalwart settlers who had crossed the Atlantic under his auspices, and with their assistance he was not long in erecting an abode which was thenceforward known as Castle Malahide. It was built on a high cliff overhanging the lake. The "Castle" was "neither more nor less than a long range of low buildings, formed of logs and shingles." The main structure consisted of three divisions, or apartments; viz., a granary, which was also used as a store-room; a dining-room, which was also used as an office and reception-room for visitors; and a kitchen. There was another building close by, containing a range of bed-rooms, where guests could be made comfortable for the night. In his later years, the Colonel added a suite of rooms of more lofty pretensions, but without disturbing the old tenements, and these sumptuous apartments were reserved for state occasions. There were underground cellars for wine, milk, and kitchen stores. This description
Navy Hall was the Lieutenant-Governor's residence at Newark. See the sketch of the life of Governor Simcoe, in the first volume of this work.
From correspondence and documents laid before the Upper Canadian House of Assembly in 1836, and published in the appendix to the Journal for that year, we learn that the total quantity of land placed at Colonel Talbot's disposal amounted to exactly 518,000 acres. Five years before that date (in 1831) the population of the Talbot settlement had been estimated by the Colonel at nearly 40,000. It appears that the original grant did not include so large a tract, but that it was subsequently extended.