My great grandfather's story

 When registering for the Edmonton Family History Fair, I was asked to submit the story and a photo of an ancestor. This is what I submitted.

I can appreciate the power of stories! When I was about 9 years old, my father and his brother told me how their grandfather John Buchanan, as a teenager had come to Canada in a wooden sailing ship with his parents and siblings, fleeing the great Irish famine. The ship nearly sank in a storm and had to return for repairs. On their second attempt, a plague of "immigrant fever" broke out and many people died, including two family members. When they arrived virtually penniless in Canada, they settled in a dense wilderness of large trees, building homes with their own hands. Who wouldn't want to know more? I was hooked on family history from that point!

(And this was before I heard the stories of John being a gold miner in Nevada and a pioneer settler in Manitoba.)

Here is a longer version of his story, which I used with an animated version of his photo. (Deep Story at myHeritage.com) 

Hi, I'm John Buchanan.

Let me tell you my story.

I was born on August 10 1829, in County Tyrone Ireland.

My father Andrew Buchanan and my mother Jane were both born in Ireland, I had 7 siblings: Robert, Charles, James, William, Andrew, Samuel and Jane.

In 1847 the family decided to escape the great Irish Famine by emigrating to Canada. We traveled north to the sea port of Londonderry, and booked passage on a wooden sailing ship. When we were out to sea for 10 days, the ship ran into a terrible storm and we faced the real danger of sinking. Our damaged ship had to return for repairs. On the second attempt we reached Canada, but there was an outbreak of typhus fever onboard. There was no room for us at the Grosse Isle quarantine station, so we were sent up-river to Kingston for quarantine.

My father and a baby niece died of the fever and were buried there.

The rest of us came west and claimed farmland north of Stratford, Ontario where the hamlet of Donegal is now located.

I married my sweetheart Isabella Watson, she was born in 1837, in Prescott Ontario.

We had 11 children: Elizabeth, Jane, Robert John, James George, Margaret, Mary, John, William, William Andrew, Elizabeth Anne, and John Charles.

Farming was mostly on a subsistence level. If you could find other employment, the usual wage was $1 per day, We found that we could make triple that wage in the huge underground gold mines of Nevada. When our crops were harvested, we would sometimes make that 11 day journey by train and horseback to Gold Hill Nevada.to spend the winter working in the gold mines. On our return we would have lots of stories to tell.

In 1879 we moved to the new territory of Manitoba, where land was available for free. Our oldest children were eager to have farms of their own. The families of my brother Samuel and sister Jane also came as well as some of my Watson in-laws.

It meant starting all over again as pioneers, but we were equal to the task, We built up farms and homes and communities, And we lived to see Canada expand from sea to sea to sea.

(Please edit this as needed. Use either photo. If you have any questions, please let me know.)

Bill Buchanan