The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4). Dent John Charles
applies to the establishment as it appeared when finally completed. For some time after the Colonel's first arrival it was much less pretentious, and consisted of a single log shanty. In order to prevent settlers and other people from intruding upon his privacy unnecessarily, the Colonel caused one of the panes of glass in the window of his office to be removed, and a little door, swung upon hinges, to be substituted, after the fashion sometimes seen at rural post-offices. By means of this little swinging door he held conferences with all persons whom he did not chose to admit to a closer communication. This, which at a first glance, would seem to smack of superciliousness, was in reality nothing more than a judicious precaution. In the course of his dealings with settlers and emigrants, some of them were tempted, by the loneliness of his situation, to browbeat, and even to manifest violence towards him. On one occasion, it is said, he was assaulted and thrown down by one of the "land pirates," as he used to call them. The solitary situation in which he had voluntarily placed himself, and the power he possessed of distributing lands, required him to act frequently with apparent harshness, in order to avoid being imposed upon by land jobbers, and to prevent artful men from overreaching their weaker-minded brethren. His henchman, house-steward and major-domo, was a faithful servant whose name was Jeffery Hunter, in whom his master had great confidence, and who, as we are gravely informed, was very useful in reaching down the maps. Jeffery, however, did not enter the Colonel's employ until the later had been some time in the country. Previous to that time this scion of aristocracy was generally compelled to be his own servant, and to cook, bake, and perform all the household drudgery, which he was not unfrequently compelled to perform in the presence of distinguished guests.
Some years seem to have elapsed before the Colonel attracted any considerable number of settlers around him. The work of settlement cannot be said to have commenced in earnest until 1809. It was no light thing in those days for a man with a family dependent upon him to bury himself in the remote wildernesses of Western Canada. There was no flouring-mill, for instance, within sixty miles of Castle Malahide. In the earliest years of the settlement the few residents were compelled to grind their own grain after a primitive fashion, in a mortar formed by hollowing out a basin in the stump of a tree with a heated iron. The grain was placed in the basin, and then pounded with a heavy wooden beetle until it bore some resemblance to meal. In process of time the Colonel built a mill in the township of Dunwich, not far from his own abode. It was a great boon to the settlement, but was not long in existence, having been destroyed during the American invasion in 1812. For the first twenty years of the Colonel's settlement, the hardships he as well as his settlers had to contend with were of no ordinary kind, and such only as could be overcome by industry and patient endurance.
Colonel Talbot for many years exercised almost imperial sway over the district. He even provided for the wants of those in his immediate neighbourhood, and assembled them at his house on the first day of the week for religious worship. He read to them the services of the Church of England, and insured punctual attendance by sending the whiskey-bottle round among his congregation at the close of the ceremonial. Though never a religious man, even in the broadest acceptation of the term, he solemnized marriages and baptized the children. So that his government was, in the fullest and best sense, patriarchal. His method of transferring land was eminently simple and informal. No deeds were given, nor were any formal books of entry called into requisition. For many years the only records were sheet maps, showing the position of each separate lot enclosed in a small space within four black lines. When the terms of transfer had been agreed upon, the Colonel wrote the purchaser's name within the space assigned to the particular lot disposed of, and this was the only muniment of title. If the purchaser afterwards disposed of his lot, the vendor and vendee appeared at Castle Malahide, when, if the Colonel approved of the transaction, he simply obliterated the former purchaser's name with a piece of india-rubber, and substituted that of the new one. "Illustrations might be multiplied," says a contemporary Canadian writer, "of the peculiar way in which Colonel Talbot of Malahide discharged the duties he had undertaken to perform. There is a strong vein of the ludicrous running through these performances. We doubt whether transactions respecting the sale and transfer of real estate were, on any other occasion, or in any other place, carried on in a similar way. Pencil and india-rubber performances were, we venture to think, never before promoted to such trustworthy distinction, or called on to discharge such responsible duties as those which they described on the maps of which Jeffery and the dogs appeared to be the guardians. There is something irresistibly amusing in the fact that such an estate, exceeding half a million of acres, should have been disposed of in such a manner, with the help of such machinery, and, so far as we are aware, to the satisfaction of all concerned. It shows that a bad system faithfully worked is better than a good system basely managed."3
During the American invasion of 1812-'13 and '14, Colonel Talbot commanded the militia of the district, and was present at the battles of Lundy's Lane and Fort Erie. Marauding parties sometimes found their way to Castle Malahide during this troubled period, and what few people there were in the settlement suffered a good deal of annoyance. Within a day or two after the battle of the Thames, where the brave Tecumseh met his doom, a party of these marauders, consisting of Indians and scouts from the American army, presented themselves at Fort Talbot, and summoned the garrison to surrender. The place was not fortified, and the garrison consisted merely of a few farmers who had enrolled themselves in the militia under the temporary command of a Captain Patterson. A successful defence was out of the question and Colonel Talbot, who would probably have been deemed an important capture, quietly walked out of the back door as the invaders entered at the front. Some of the Indians saw the Colonel, who was dressed in homely, everyday garb, walking off through the woods, and were about to fire on him, when they were restrained by Captain Patterson, who begged them not to hurt the poor old fellow, who, he said, was the person who tended the sheep. This white lie probably saved the Colonel's life. The marauders, however, rifled the place, and carried off everything they could lay hands on, including some valuable horses and cattle. Colonel Talbot's gold, consisting of about two quart pots full, and some valuable plate, concealed under the front wing of the house, escaped notice. The invaders set fire to the grist mill, which was totally consumed, and this was a serious loss to the settlement generally.
It was not till the year 1817 that anything like a regular store or shop was established in the settlement. Previous to that time the wants of the settlers were frequently supplied from the stores of Colonel Talbot, who provided necessaries for his own use, and for the men whom he employed. The Colonel was punctual in all his engagements, and scrupulously exact in all monetary transactions. The large sums he received for many years from the settlers were duly and properly accounted for to the Government. He would accept payment of his claims only in the form of notes on the Bank of Upper Canada, and persons having any money to pay him were always compelled to provide themselves accordingly. His accumulations were carefully stored in the place of concealment above referred to; and once a year he carried his wealth to Little York, and made his returns. This annual trip to Little York was made in the depth of winter, and was almost the only event that took him away from home, except on the two or three occasions when he visited the old country. He was accustomed to make the journey to the Provincial capital in a high box sleigh, clad in a sheepskin greatcoat which was known to pretty nearly every man in the settlement.
Among the earliest settlers in the Talbot District was Mr. Mahlon Burwell, a land surveyor, who was afterwards better known as Colonel Burwell. He was of great assistance to Colonel Talbot, and became a privileged guest at Castle Malahide. He surveyed many of the townships in the Talbot District, and later on rose to a position of great influence in the Province. His industry and perseverance long enabled him to hold a high place in the minds of the people of the settlement, and he enjoyed the reflection of Colonel Talbot's high and benevolent character. He entered the Provincial Parliament, and for many years retained a large measure of public confidence. Another early settler in the District was the afterwards celebrated Dr. John Rolph, who took up his quarters on Catfish Creek in 1813. He was long on terms of close intimacy and friendship with Colonel Talbot, and in 1817 originated the Talbot Anniversary, to commemorate the establishment of the District, and to do honour to its Founder. This anniversary was held on the 21st of May, the Colonel's birthday, and was kept up without interruption for about twenty years. It was attended by every settler who could possibly get to the place of celebration, which was sometimes at Port
See "Portraits of British Americans," by W. Notman; with Biographical Sketches by Fennings Taylor; vol. I., p. 341.