The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Vol. 2

Notes On Part Three

Page 141

Before the introduction of steel traps, the Indians caught the beaver by piercing a hole in the roof of the house with an icechisel, set into a heavy six-foot pole, after barring the underwater outlet with stakes driven through the ice. Observe the open water in the middle of the pond to the right, and below the dam to the right, the distant beaver houses already broken open, and the dog, whose instinct enables him to detect the presence of  he beaver in the house. David Thompson's Narrative describes the method of hunting in detail.

Page 142

The Catholic clergy in Canada, during the French regime and until about 1860-1875, wore a sort of tab beneath the chin, called a "Rabat." This was a piece of black cloth or silk, divided into two oblong parts, edged with white. Such had been the custom in France and Belgium, from whence came the early priests serving in Canada, and naturally the same practice was followed in this country. In time it came to be associated particularly with those who supported the principles of the national church of France, which claimed certain rights independent of the jurisdiction of the Pope. These were known as Gallicans, while in opposition to them were the Ultramontanes, those who believed that all ecclesiastical power was concentrated in the Roman Pontiff. About the middle of the nineteenth century, a movement in favour of Ultramontane principles had made considerable progress, which led toward greater conformity to Roman customs, even in such minor matters as dress. Bishop Bourget, of Montreal, after a visit to Europe, issued a letter to his clergy in 1861, urging them to discard the" Rabat" and adopt the" Roman Collar." Other bishops followed his action, and the change became general, though some, especially in the diocese of Quebec, regarded as the stronghold of Gallicanism, continued to wear the Rabat until 1875, when Mgr. E. A. Taschereau ordered the substitution of the Roman Collar.

Page 143

William Black, 1760-1834, "the father of Methodism in Nova Scotia," was born in Yorkshire, and came to Nova Scotia with his parents in 1775. He became a preacher in 1780 and eventually was appointed General Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions in British America.

William Case, 1780-1855, was born in Massachusetts. He was first stationed on the Bay of Quinte. Later he became Presiding Elder of the Methodist Church in Canada and the United States, and Superintendent of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Canada. In 1828 he was Superintendent of Indian Missions in Upper Canada, and from 1837 to 1851 in charge of the Wesleyan Indian School at Alnwick, Ontario, where he died.

Nathan Bangs came to Canada as a teacher and surveyor. Converted to Methodism, he was sent to organize a circuit in the Long Point settlement on Lake Erie. Here and in the Niagara district. on Yonge Street, on the Bay of Quinte, on the Thames, at Detroit and Quebec, he laboured until 1807, when he was transferred to the United States. He visited Canada frequently thereafter.

James Richardson, 1795-1875, born in Kingston, served in the Provincial Marine, and lost an arm at Sackett's Harbour in 1813. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1818, became a local preacher, and an itinerant minister in 1824. He was editor of The Christian Guardian in 1832. Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada in 1858.

James Evans, 1801-1846, born in England, came to Canada in 1823. Was teacher at the Indian school at Rice Lake in 1828. Ordained minister in 1833, he was sent as missionary to the St. Clair Indians in 1834, to Lake Superior in 1834, and thence to the Indians of the North-West, where he was stationed at Norway House.

Five sons of Col. Joseph Ryerson, of Long Point, became Methodist ministers, George, William, John, Edwy and Egerton, the most noted.

For information on the early Methodist ministers consult Case and his Cotemporaries, by Rev. John Carroll, Playter's History of Methodism in Canada, and The First Century of Methodism in Canada, by Rev. J. E. Sanderson. The latter contains many portraits.

Page 144

Frances Deering, born Boston, Mass., married 1769, John Wentworth (later knighted), Governor of New Hampshire, and Surveyor-General of the King's Woods in North America, two weeks after the death of her first husband. At the Revolution, Wentworth, as a Loyalist, went to England. In 1792 he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. Lady Wentworth is described by contemporary chroniclers as beautiful, accomplished and gay. She died in England in 1813, aged sixty-eight. Her husband survived her until 1820, dying at the age of eighty-four. Their country estate at Bedford Basin was lent to the Duke of Kent, who occupied it with Madame de St. Laurent during his stay at Halifax. Copley's portrait shows the costume of the late eighteenth century.

Mary, eldest daughter of John Stuart, Sheriff of the Johnstown District, Upper Canada, married, 1331, Allan Napier MacNab. She died in 1846, while her husband was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. He was knighted for his services in the Rebellion of 1837, and became Prime Minister of Canada. The portrait illustrates the fashion of hair dressing and the sleeves and bodice of the late eighteen-forties.

Alphonsine Therese Bernardine Julie de Montgenet de St. Laurent, Baronne de Fortisson, met Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, in Martinique. She accompanied him to Quebec, and here and in Nova Scotia and in England, for twenty-eight years she lived with him as his morganatic wife, presiding over his household with dignity and propriety. On the marriage of the Duke to the widow of the Prince of Leiningen in 1818 for reasons of state, she retired to a convent. Both she and the Duke were close friends of the de Salaberry family, and acted as god-parents to one of the younger sons. The portrait is from a miniature of the early nineteenth century.

The two young women were daughters of the Hon. William McGillivray, a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada, and a director of the North West Company of fur traders. The portraits show the costume and hair-dressing of about 1820-1830. Note the high waist and straight girdle, in contrast to the deep pointed bodice of the later period worn by Lady MacNab.

Lady Hunter, Jean Dickson, heiress of James Dickson, of Anton's Hill, Berwickshire, married Lieut.-Col. Martin Hunter in 1797, and died in 1844. When her husband was appointed Brigadier-General in command of the forces in the Maritime Provinces in 1803, she followed him with her children the next year. Letters and journals written by herself and her husband, containing much valuable material on the social conditions of the time, have been privately printed. Transcripts of them are in the possession of Mr. G. H. Markham, of Saint John, N.B., to whom I am indebted for copies of their portraits, and much information concerning them. Her letters reveal her as an acute observer, with a sense of humour and a faculty of graphic description. They are a source of information for the social history of the Maritime Provinces from 1803 to 1812 as valuable as the Diary of Mrs. Simcoe is for Upper Canada.

Page 145

These pages have been designed to illustrate not only characteristic women of the time, but also to show styles of hairdressing and costume.

Mary Watts, of a distinguished New York family, married, 1773, Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson. Her husband succeeded his father as Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs. On the outbreak of the Revolution he escaped to Canada, and his wife was held in New York for some time as a hostage for him. Later she joined him in Montreal, where she died in 1815. The portrait shows her wearing a draped cap in vogue during the latter years of the nineteenth century for house wear.

Melicent Triges (1768-1860), wife of John Scadding, Sr., of York, U.C. The portrait evidently was painted during the eighteen-thirties, as shown by the puffed sleeves, spreading cape and high-waisted girdle. The crimped and beribboned cap, worn indoors by elderly women, is characteristic of the period.

Amelia Playter (1806-1902), wife of John Scadding, Jr., wears the wide out-door hat, the curls, and the spreading lace cape of the eighteen-thirties.

Leah (1790-1848), daughter of Dr. John Gamble, married Hon. William Allan, a leading citizen of York, U.C., who, as Major of Militia, signed the capitulation of the town to the Americans in 1813. Their son was Senator George W. Allan, of Moss Park, the patron of Paul Kane, the painter of Indians. She is shown wearing a lace house cap of the early forties. Note also the smoothly parted hair, as in Lady Maitland's portrait, which followed the elaborate curly coiffure of the preceding two decades, such as is seen in the portrait of Madame Joly, Julie de Lotbiniere (1810-1887), of a distinguished French-Canadian family, who married, 1828, G. P. G. Joly. Of their two sons, the elder became Sir Henri G. Joly, K.C.M.G., and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia; the other, Edmond, joined the British Army, and served in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny where, after many dangerous adventures, he was killed at the relief of Lucknow. Mme. Joly's portrait is evidently of the eighteen-twenties or early thirties, as shown by the curled hair and high-waisted girdle.

Rosalie Chevrier, in 1780, married Joseph Papineau, who distinguished himself as a constitutional leader in the Lower Canadian House of Assembly. She died in the cholera epidemic of 1832 in Montreal, aged seventy-four. She was the mother of the celebrated Louis Joseph Papineau. She wears a mob cap of the early nineteenth century.

Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of the Duke of Richmond, married, 1815, Sir Peregrine Maitland. It is said that they met at the famous ball given by her mother in Brussels on the eve of Waterloo. Her father having refused his consent to their marriage, they eloped and she became Maitland's wife. Her father soon became reconciled, and when he was appointed Governor of British North America in 1818, Maitland was made Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and ten years later, of Nova Scotia. After the tragic death of the Duke of Richmond from hydrophobia, Maitland acted as Administrator until the appointment of the Earl of Dalhousie in 1820. Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah spent much of their time on their country estate at Stamford, U.C. The dress shown in the portrait indicates that it was painted during the forties. Note the India shawl of the pattern familiar in the Paisley shawl.

Romance is also connected with Lady Dorchester, Lady Maria Howard. She and her elder sister, Lady Anne, were daughters of Lord Howard of Effingham. He was an intimate friend of Guy Carleton, later Lord Dorchester, and when he asked the hand of Lady Anne her father gladly gave his consent. But the lady was already in love with Carleton's nephew, and refused Guy's proposal. On returning after the interview to her waiting sister and their bosom friend, Miss Seymour, who were awaiting her, they observed her distressed expression, which she explained by saying that she had "just had to refuse the best man on earth." "The more fool you," remarked her younger sister, then aged eighteen, "I only wish he had given me the chance!" Some time later Miss Seymour confided the story to the rejected suitor. Carleton took the hint, and though more han double the age of Lady Maria, proposed to her, was accepted, married her and lived happily ever after. His nephew married Lady Anne,  and later served under his rejected uncle. Lady Dorchester is described as being small, fair, upright, and extremely dignified and ceremonious, in the manner of the French court of Versailles, where she had been brought up.

Page 146

Thompson is using an artificial horizon. This is a flat iron pan into which mercury was poured. The pan is covered by a sloping glass roof, and placed on perfectly level and firm ground or rock in a situation to reflect the image of the sun. The surveyor looks through the eye-piece of his sextant at this reflected image, and finds the angle which gives the elevation of the sun at its meridian above the horizon. From this he is able to calculate his position.

Notice in the illustration the iron bottle in which the mercury is carried, the note-book and pencil, and the camp in the middle distance, far enough from the observer to prevent any disturbance of the surface of the mercury by the tread of horses or men. The length of the shadows and the distance of the artificial horizon from the observer show that the observation is being taken in autumn. For detailed information on early methods of surveying I am indebted to Dr. J. B. Tyrrell, of Toronto.

Page 148

Richard Dillon was the proprietor of a hotel on the south-west corner of St. James Street and the Place d'Armes in Montreal. It was very popular from about 1790 to 1815. Dillon was an amateur artist, and painted panoramas, and several views of Montreal, which have considerable historic value.

The illustration showing the old and new churches (the latter the present existing building) gives an excellent idea of their relative positions. As may be seen, the old church stood in the middle of Notre Dame Street, opposite the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the wall of which is shown on the lower right of the picture.

Georges Delfosse (1869-1939), the painter of this picture and of that of Nelson's Column, was an accomplished French-Canadian artist who depicted a large number of the old streets and buildings of Montreal. His paintings are admirable in composition and suffused with light and colour.

Page 152

Most of the early Protestant churches in Lower Canada were built in the same style as the Catholic churches of the period: the classical or  late Renaissance, with some trace of the influence of Wren and Gibbs, the English architects, whose work was inspired by the same ideals. The Protestant churches, however, were not built with the semi-circular apse or chancel, nor did they possess the side chapels, both characteristic features of the Catholic churches, and were simpler in plan and in their interior furnishings.

The Church of England and its rectory at Three Rivers were originally the Church and Presbytere of the Recollets, built during the French Regime.

The Cuthbert family chapel is built of stone, covered with rough-cast. It was restored some years ago under the direction of Roy Wilson, A.R.C.A., architect.

Page 159

British regiments or battalions consisted normally of ten companies, two of which were composed of specially selected men: a Light Infantry company, of active, alert men, generally good marksmen, employed as skirmishers, and a Grenadier company of the largest and heaviest men, who led in bayonet charges and close fighting. When the regiment was drawn up in line, the Grenadier company was stationed on the right and the Light Infantry company on the left.

By law all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, with the exception of those belonging to pacifist sects, such as Quakers and Mennonites, were obliged to serve in the Canadian Militia. This force was known as the "Sedentary" Militia. From it was obtained for active service the" Embodied" Militia, composed of volunteers and those chosen by ballot. Two companies, known as flank companies, were drawn from the battalions of Embodied Militia, each consisting of one hundred picked men under the age of forty, who were drilled six days a month, and could be called out at a moment's notice, and kept on active duty as long as their service was necessary. During the War of 1812 they were often called out to meet invasion, and there is frequent mention of their being released for a time to go home to sow or reap their crops, many of them being farmers.

In addition to the Militia, battalions of Canadian Regulars, such as the Glengarry Light Infantry, the Fencibles, Voltigeurs, the Newfoundland Regiment, etc., enlisted for the duration of the war.

The American forces in the War of 1812 consisted of the Regular Army, the United States Volunteers, enlisted for shorter terms of service both under Federal authority, and the Militia of the different States of the Union, enlisted also for short terms and not obliged to serve outside of their respective States without State authority.

The John Ross Robertson Collection in the Toronto Public Library contains many coloured drawings showing uniforms of British regiments which had served in Canada. These are most useful; but the student must be warned that in some cases the uniforms depicted, while those of the regiment and correct as to facings, etc., are not such as were worn at the time they were stationed in Canada. In particular it should be noted that by 1812 pigtailed hair and knee breeches had been discarded. The hair was cut to conform to the shape of the head, long trousers, slightly split at the ankles, were substituted for breeches, and stiff shakos had taken the places of the earlier broadside cocked hats.

Pages 160 and 163

The pictures of the battlefields of Beaver Dams and Stoney Creek, and of the forts at the mouth of the Niagara are from sketches by Benson J. Lossing, author and illustrator of The Field Book of the War of 1812, which contains woodcuts of these and many other historic places, showing heir appearance at the time they were made, about 1869.

Page 164

The Gage house, on the battlefield of Stoney Creek, is still standing, though its western portion, used as a store, was torn down about 1896. It is furnished and kept in excellent repair by its owners, the Wentworth Women's Historical Society, and contains many pieces of old  furniture, pictures and other relics.

The De Cou house, Fitz Gibbon's headquarters, and the objective of Laura Secord's journey in 1813, is now owned by the Ontario Hydro-Electric Commission, which has carefully preserved it and its surroundings. The interior was damaged by fire shortly before its acquisition, but its walls are intact, and the building will be restored and made a historic shrine.

Page 165

The 104th Regiment was formed in 1810 out of the New Brunswick Fencibles, raised in 1803, and was incorporated in the British regular Army. It was recruited mainly in New Brunswick, and partly in Nova Scotia, and included also a number of Canadians from Quebec; and was composed of hardy woodsmen and hunters, accustomed to the use of the snowshoe, the canoe, the axe and the musket.

The march of the regiment from Fredericton, N.B., to Kingston, U.C., in 1813, was one of the most famous in the history of the British Army. On Feb. 16th the Grenadier Company started from Fredericton, followed on each succeeding day by a Battalion Company, the rearguard, the Light Infantry Company, leaving on the 21st. The six companies, 550 rank and file, reached Quebec on March 19th, with the loss of only one man. Thence it proceeded to Kingston, where it arrived in the middle of April, and by the summer of 1813 was in action on the Niagara frontier, and took part next year in the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane.

The first few days of the march were through settled country and over beaten roads. Thereafter their way led through the forest. Each man and officer took turn in breaking the trail. Every fifteen minutes the leading man stepped aside, until the whole company had passed him, when he threw off his snowshoes and marched in the rear on the hard beaten path. Knapsacks, arms, bedding and provisions were carried on toboggans, the line of the company in single file being nearly half a mile long. At night they camped in rough huts of evergreen branches covered with brush. The weather was unusually cold, and the snow the deepest in ten years.

At the south end of Lake Temisconata, two companies became stormbound and food ran short. Captain Charles Rainsford and two French-Canadian privates made a forced march to Riviere-du-Loup for relief, returning with provisions after a journey of ninety miles in two days and two nights.

Sir Martin Hunter (1757-1846), who raised the regiment and was its first colonel, was born in Durham County, England. He entered the army, and served in the Revolutionary War till 1778, fighting as ensign in the battle of Bunker's Hill. Later he saw service in India, the Mediterranean and the West Indies. In 1803 he was appointed Brigadier-General in North America, and commanded the troops in the Maritime Provinces. For a time he acted as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick. He was recalled to England in 1812, and knighted in 1832.

I am indebted to Mr. G. H. Markham, of Saint John, N.B., for information on the 104th, gathered from letters of Captains Le Couteux and Playfair, and on Sir Martin and Lady Hunter, and also for their portraits, from their Journal and Letters privately printed.

Page 166

It is said that in the battle of Lake Erie, owing to insufficient and defective fuses, the cannon of Barclay's fleet had to be fired by discharging pistols into their touch-holes. Notice the officer shouting his commands through a speaking trumpet, and the boy in the left foreground carrying a pail of powder (and commonly called a "powder-monkey"), with thumb against his ear, to deaden the concussion caused by gun fire. It was the custom of artillerymen to thrust their thumbs into their ears, and to rise on their toes when their guns were fired. Mrs. Simcoe in her Diary relates that Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe suffered long and severe head pain from the discharge of a cannon from the rampart of Fort Niagara, beneath which he was standing.

Page 170

Artillery in Canada during the period covered by this volume consisted of two kinds: stationary cannon, generally of large calibre, used for the defense or siege of forts, and on board warships, and lighter weight field cannon accompanying infantry in fighting in the open. Heavy cannon threw solid iron balls weighing from eighteen to thirty-six pounds; field guns ranged generally from three pounders to eight pounders. In addition to these were mortars and howitzers, short thick cannon, resting on the ground or low carriages, with their muzzles elevated to give a plunging fire, both using exploding shells. The largest guns were of iron, many of the smaller ones, as well as howitzers, were of brass.

Field guns and ammunition wagons were drawn by horses; in the War of 1812 horses and their drivers formed what was known as the Car Brigade; the horses were hired or requisitioned from the farms, their drivers were hired or impressed civilians. These were sometimes Quakers, Mennonites, or other conscientious objectors to warfare, who were pressed into the service of transporting ammunition and supplies.

Transportation of the heavy guns up the waterways was a slow, difficult and expensive undertaking. Oxen were employed in places to haul the boats where the current was too strong for poling. Warships on the lakes were armed with cannon of various calibres, from thirty-two pounders to some as small as two and three pounders. The big guns were of two kinds: long range guns, and carronades. The latter were short thick cannon (so named from the place where they originally were made, Carron Iron Works in Scotland), with a large bore, firing a heavy charge of small projectiles. They did tremendous execution in close action, but were inferior to long guns at a distance of about a quarter of a mile. On Lake Ontario the British fleet had more carronades than long guns, consequently it sought to bring the enemy to close quarters, while the Americans maneuvered so as to fight at a distance where their more numerous long guns would give them an advantage. At Plattsburg in 1814, however, these conditions were reversed, and to this and the enclosed space in which the battle was fought, the Americans, to a large degree, owed their success.

In all these guns several kinds of projectiles were used, grape shot, shells, and solid round balls. The latter sometimes were heated red hot, so as to set on fire whatever inflammable objects they struck. In the American Fort Niagara today may be seen one of the furnaces used for heating shot. Grape shot were used to scatter bullets among masses of troops.

These cannon were all muzzle loaders, fired by inserting a lighted fuse, held by a linstock, a long pole, in a touch-hole near the base of the cannon. When a cannon had to be abandoned it was often rendered useless for a while by "spiking" it, i.e. driving an iron rod or a steel bayonet tightly into the touch-hole. The gun then could not be used until the spike had been drilled out.

Page 171 and 172

For data on British and American commanders in the War of 1812, see The War with the United States, by William Wood, in the Chronicles of Canada Series, and Select Documents of the War of 1812, by the same author, in the Champlain Society publications.

Observe the high collars, reaching to the ears, worn by superior officers, especially Americans, and the cocked hats, worn broadside. Also note that the faces were clean shaven, except for a very small crescent-shaped side whisker. British officers wore the traditional scarlet coat, with a crimson sash around the waist and knotted at the left. American officers' uniforms were dark blue, and lacked the sash.

Page 175

Fort Wellington is situated on the eastern outskirts of Prescott, Ont., on the St. Lawrence. It is an excellent specimen of the earthwork and palisaded fortifications of the period, and remains as it was when completed in 1837. A small museum in one of its buildings contains some interesting military relics.

Page 178

The fight of Seven Oaks was the climax of the conflict between the rival fur-trading associations, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-West Company.

Lord Selkirk had become one of the largest shareholders in the Hudson's Bay Company, and secured a grant of land on the Red River where in 1812 he established a colony of settlers from Scotland and Ireland. The Nor'westers and their Metis (FrenchIndian), hunters and trappers, fearing that settlement would destroy the fur-trade, opposed Selkirk's scheme. They harassed and drove away the settlers, demolished their buildings and almost exterminated the colony. Early in 1816 a body of halfbreeds from Qu'Appelle and Portage La Prairie gathered for a raid on the settlement. On June 19th they approached Fort Douglas and the Colony Gardens. Governor Semple led a party out from the fort to intercept them. Semple's party was attacked, and all but six were killed. The total number killed was twenty-three, among them the Governor, his secretary, a doctor and a surgeon. The site, on the northern outskirts of the present city of Winnipeg, is marked by a monument.

The story is told in The Red River Colony, by L. A. Wood, in the Chronicles of Canada Series, and in works by Alexander Ross, George Bryce, and Professor Chester Martin. Mine Inheritance, a novel by Frederick Niven, gives an accurate and vivid picture of the time.

Page 180

See article on Rindisbacher in The Beaver, December, 1945.

Page 182

This mill, on Dedrick's Creek, about a mile and a half north of Port Rowan on Lake Erie, was built in 1808 on the site of a previous mill erected in 1798 by Jonathan Backhouse, who came from Yorkshire in 1791. It has always been in the possession of the family, who have been millers for five generations. It contains much of the early mechanism, the millstones, central shaft, crane, etc., though about 1894 modern roller equipment and turbine wheel were installed, by which it is operated today. It is an excellent specimen of the overshot wheel type.

Page 186

Colonel Talbot was a very important figure in the history of the settlement of south-western Upper Canada. His piquant personality, the striking contrast between his youth and his life in the backwoods, and his later years as the virtual ruler of the western peninsula make a story of unique and absorbing interest.

He belonged to the ancient Irish family of Talbot de Malahide, and was born in the ancestral castle near Dublin. He entered the army at an early age. With Arthur Wellesley, another young man, who became the Duke of Wellington, he was appointed aide to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He served in Canada as secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, 1792-1794, and accompanied him on his journey to Detroit, when he first saw the district which later he colonized. After some years of army service he abandoned European life and society and in 1801 settled in the wilderness on the shores of Lake Erie. He received large grants of land on which he placed settlers. Here he spent the remaining years of his life, varied by periodical visits to York, the Upper Canada capital, and an occasional trip to England and Ireland.

A full account of his life and the history of his settlement is given in The Talbot Regime, by C. 0. Ermatinger, and further information in The Talbot Papers, by Dr. James H. Coyne, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1909.

The portrait depicts him at about the age of seventy, to judge from the costume, which is that of the eighteen-forties. His face is full and florid. His trousers are of homespun, with broad stripes of red and black.

Descriptions of his house are given in Dr. Coyne's paper referred to above, and in Mrs. Jameson's Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada.

There are several descriptions of his appearance in contemporary accounts. In youth he is said to have been handsome and "quite a dandy"; but with advancing years he became corpulent. Mrs. Frances Stuart in Our Forest Home speaks of him as being fat and short. He persisted in wearing homespun garments of Port Talbot manufacture, even on his visits among aristocratic society in England. But he was especially noticeable for his famous greatcoat of yellow dyed sheepskin with the wool on, in which he was often seen driving Lady Sarah Maitland and Mrs. Gore, wives of Governors of Upper Canada, in his high box sleigh along King Street in York.