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From: "PETER FERGUSON" <>
Subject: Re: [SCOTS-IN-CANADA] Betty's New Lists (Quebec) GUNN Family
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 14:29:21 +1100
References: <001d01c84d4a$088a2910$2e01a8c0@DC5YC421><001301c84d58$69a5e640$24aacb42@joanle8kvfbomk><1f4e01c84dfe$b8050db0$ca57c047@LivingRoom><003701c84e1c$ccfb9630$10aacb42@joanle8kvfbomk><000501c84f48$10edaaf0$7600a8c0@owner9296cc6e1><003701c84f58$e83e6a20$1caacb42@joanle8kvfbomk>
In-Reply-To: <003701c84f58$e83e6a20$1caacb42@joanle8kvfbomk>


Hello Joan,

I am interested in your Gunn family. I think that one of my ancestors was
Esther Gunn, sister of Angus and daughter of Donald Gunn and Janet Baillie.
If I am correct she married Henry Robins born abt 1786 in Upper Canada and
buried 23 Mar 1848 Auld Kirk Churchyard Scotch Settlement Bradford Ontario
Canada.

Not sure when esther died but she was listed in the 1861 census for
Gwillamby West TWP Simcoe County ON CA

Do you have any info on this lady?

Peter Ferguson
in hot and dry New South Wales
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan & Wayne Wilton" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 4:07 PM
Subject: Re: [SCOTS-IN-CANADA] Betty's New Lists (Quebec)


> My Scottish connection is through the Gunns who left Dornoch, Scotland in
> 1813 aboard the Prince of Wales to the Red River Settlement. This was the
> immigration that saw Capt. Turner put in at Ft. Churchill because typhoid
> had broken out on the ship. Everyone who was sick and those who wanted to
> go
> with them, including ships crew, were put off and left in the care of a
> single white man and natives. Those that recovered are the settlers who
> walked from Ft. Churchill to York Factory in what's been called the
> 'overland trek'.
> The Hudson Bay Company was in control at the Red River Settlement but the
> North West Fur Company was still in operation and squabbling between the
> two
> factions made life miserable. So did living conditions and after a couple
> of
> years, my Gunns and some of their friends and neighbours who immigrated
> with
> them from Scotland, wanted to leave and come to the Talbot Settlement in
> Elgin county, Ontario. Permission wasn't given to them to leave and so
> Angus
> Gunn who is said to have been as brave as he was big, overpowered the man
> guarding the canoes and with the help of a North West Fur company guide,
> the
> small group left the west and arrived at 16 mile Creek near Col. Thomas
> Talbot's land after being on the road, so to speak, for about 2 years.
> They
> canoed, following what was called the 'old canoe route.' Not all the Gunns
> that are related to me and who were the same family left at the same time
> for Ontario. Angus, George and their father and sisters came first. The
> sisters married along the way.The father was Donald, a shoemaker and age
> 69
> when they left the highlands. One sister, Catherine, died at Ft.
> Churchill.
> Then young Donald came and lastly Benjamin Gunn when his term of
> employment
> with the Hudson Bay Company finished 1828. Angus who was one of the first
> got here about 1817. Others from the Red River Settlement eventually left
> for Iowa and a settlement of like minded Scots. Scotch Groves I think.I
> have
> the book, the Silver Chief, about Lord Selkirk and have found some useful
> information in it.
> My Dad's side of the family is really my brick wall. The first one to
> settle
> in Canada arrived at York co., Ontario c 1780 from New Jersey. I am
> currently trying to connect this man's father, James Dawdy, to a James
> Dawdey also of N.J. who participated in the French Indian War. I've
> scoured
> the internet for N.J. muster rolls or anything else I can find relating to
> the miltary of that time and have come up empty handed except for a widows
> pension application who claims she is the daughter of James Dawdey. It is
> really frustrating and ever so easy to make assumptions and just say the
> James are one and the same but I want proof.
> Oh well, it's late and my eyes are itchy from peering so long at the
> moniter. Thanks for your message and offer of a lookup.
> Joan Dawdy Wilton


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