Robert Gavin, 1874-1938 = Elizabeth Ferguson
Robert Gavin, eldest son and
third surviving child of Robert
Gavin and Margaret Horn was
born April 23rd, 1874 in
Lanark County. His father was
shown as an innkeeper at the
time of his birth.
He was married in Muskoka in 1904.
Vital Statistics #13026-1904 13026-04 (Muskoka Dist.) Robert GAVIN, 30, farmer, Lanark Co., Draper, s/o Robert GAVIN & Maggie HORNE, married Elizabeth FERGUSON, 23, Draper, same, d/o William FERGUSON & Ellen BANAGH, witn: William GAVIN & Ella FERGUSON, both of Draper, 31 Aug 1904 at St. Paul’s Church, Draper
Bracebridge Gazette Sept 15, 1904
"At 3 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon Aug. 31 a large number of friends and neighbors gathered in St. Paul's Anglican church to witness the marriage of Miss Elizabeth Ferguson to Robert Gavin, of Purbrook. The sacred edifice was neatly decorated with flowers for the occasion. The ceremony was conducted by the incumbent the Rev. Geo. Gander. The bride looked exceedingly handsome in a becoming gown of cream silk crepe-de-chine with lace insertion, appliqué, etc., and wore a pretty white silk chiffon hat trimmed with Duchess Ribbon and lilies of the valley, and with veil and orange blossoms. She was attended by her sister Ella and Amy, and the groom was supported by his brother William, and his nephew, Willie Ennis. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Mr. and Mrs. Gavin and guests proceeded to the residence of the brides' parents, where an appetizing repast was served of which all partook heartily. A pleasant evening was spent in dancing. About 12 o'clock the bride appeared in an Eton suit of dark green cheviot cloth with hat to match, and the newly wedded couple left immediately for Bracebridge where they took the early morning train for a week's visit to New York, calling at Toronto and Niagara on the way. The bride was the recipient of many useful presents and many were the hearty good wishes received. "
1911 Census
Lot 22 Con 11 Muskoka, Draper
Gavin, Robert, Head, b. Apr, 1874, 37, farmer
Gavin, Elizabeth, Wife, b. Jun, 1881, 29
Gavin, Eileen Amy, Dau, b. Oct, 1905, 5
Gavin, Harvey, Son, b. May, 1908 3
Gavin, Clive, Son, b. July, 1911, 10/12 mo.
(One more son, Albert William, was born after 1911)
Rob't Gavin, R.R.2, Thessalon, Ontario
May 26th, 1937
Dear Sister Maggie,
I received your letter on my birthday and was glad to hear that you were all well and hope that this will find you the same. We are all as well as we can expect. Well, Maggie, you asked me in your letter if I could go out. I can't walk, even with (crutches?) The only time I get out is when someone carries me to the car and takes me for a ride. I was pretty sick most of the winter but I feel quite a lot better since it got warm. I don't think I will walk again. I suffer a lot with my legs and arms. I have to take tablets. I don't know where Albert is. We haven't heard from him since he left one year ago last December. And I haven't heard from Clive for a long time now. I expect I will soon. Bessie was home two weeks ago. She is fat and looks well. She weighs 122 pounds. That's a good weight for her. Harvie (?) is on his mail rounds. He has been pretty busy seeding but is ____ now. He sowed 45 bushels of oats. He has a man (?) nearly all the (time). He will have 7 cows milking this summer. He has 2 big white-faced 2 year olds to sell and 4 one year olds for next year. I am going to see Mable Reid tomorrow. She comes to see me quite often. I think Sarah is in the Soo now. I don't see her very often. Well Maggie, I think I will have to stop for this time. Ab was here not long ago. He said he was going home soon. Sarah was to go with him, but I don't think he went. Well, this is all for this time. Write soon. Goodbye, with love to all. From Bob
Muskoka Herald Mar 24 1938.........
"Mr. Robert Gavin...Called By Death...
Word was received here Thursday of the death the previous day of Mr. Robert Gavin of Thessalon. Mr. Gavin had been ailing for several years from rheumatism. Mr. Gavin was a son of the late Mr. & Mrs. Robert Gavin and was born at Purbrook. He leaves his wife and 3 sons, Clive, Harvey and Albert and one daughter, Mrs. Ted Massey(Ellen) of Sault St. Marie, Ontario.
He also leaves three sisters, Mrs. Thomas Carduges(Cordukes), of Thessalon; Mrs. Alfred Hammond of Fraserburg, and Mrs. Herbert Shire, of Draper, and two brothers, Albert of Sault St. Marie and Wm of Crown Hill. Mr. Gavin spent his boyhood in Purbrook and later moved with his wife and family to Bracebridge, where he lived several years before moving to Thessalon. He was in his 64th year. The funeral services took place at Thessalon on Monday. "
(He died March 18, 1938 and is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Thessalon, Ontario.)
Family Marriages:
6862-25 Frederick John MASSON, 25, barber, Gravenhurst, Sault Ste Marie, s/o John Napoleon MASSON & Selina POIDEVIN, married Amy Eileen GAVIN, 19, Draper Tp. Muskoka, Sault Ste Marie, d/o Robert GAVIN & Elizabeth FERGUSON, witn: Ethel REID & Roderick James MASSON both of Thessalon on Sept. 7, 1925 at St. Luke's Cathedral Sault Ste Marie (Source - Ontario marriages 'on-line')
Searching your roots one step at a time
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Across The River
Philip Turnor
This information came from www.ancestry.com
Carol Vint email address cvint@mts.net
Updated: 2006-04-20 03:15:02
ID: I0052
Name: Philip Turnor
Sex: M
Birth: 1751 in Laleham, Middlesex, England
Death: BEF. 1800 in Rotherhithe, England
Reference Number: 52
Marriage 1 Unknown Eskimo Woman b: 1752 Married: 1782
Children:
1.Joseph Sr. Turnor b: 1784 in Abitibi River Country, Ont.
2.Mary Turnor
Marriage 2 Elizabeth Armstrong
Married: 9 OCT 1785 in Stepney Spitalfields in Christs Church, England
Across The River
Philip Turnor was the first scientific observer in western Canada. His greatest achievement is considered to be the training of David Thompson and Peter Fidler in the sciences of surveying, calculations and making maps.
Found on the internet:
Look for Plaque #16.
Plaque Location: In small park beside H-Way 17 at Michipicoten River Crossing, Wawa
THE MICHIPICOTEN CANOE ROUTE
The nearby Michipicoten River formed an important link in the canoe route from Lake Superior to James Bay via the Michipicoten, Missinaibi and Moose Rivers. The route was probably explored at an early date by the French fur traders who maintained a post at Michipicoten. However the first recorded journeys were not made until the 1770's when the Hudson's Bay Company began to establish fur-trading posts along this route inland from Moose Fort. In 1781 Philip Turnor, the Company's first full-time surveyor, made a detailed investigation of the waterway. Considerable improvements were made to the portages along the route which, after 1821, became the Hudson's Bay Company's supply-line for its Lake Superior District. Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario
Turnor, Philip.
Turnor, Philip, surveyor, fur trader (b in Eng c 1751; d at London, Eng 1799 or 1800). The first servant of the HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY employed specifically to survey and map its vast empire, he accumulated, in the course of his employment from 1778 to 1792, a considerable part of the information on the northern interior of N America published on Arrowsmith's map in 1795 (see CARTOGRAPHY). In 1789-90 he taught surveying to David THOMPSON and Peter FIDLER; and during his last assignment, to establish the position of Lake Athabasca and to find a route to it from the Saskatchewan R, he met Alexander MACKENZIE, whom he evidently persuaded to seek instruction in navigation before continuing his explorations. His enthusiastic evaluation of the great fur trading potential of the Athabasca region led to the establishment of the first HBC post there in 1793.
Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada
Philip Turnor National Historic Person of Canada
Life span: 1751-1800
Moose Factory, Ontario
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Designated: 1973
Plaque Status: Plaqued in 1978
Hudson's Bay Company surveyor, explored the Athabasca (1790-1792)
Over the years, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) made periodic requests to the school for students to be apprenticed to the North American fur trade. Many of these students would later receive training from Philip Turnor, the HBC's first chief surveyor. Among these pupils were Joseph Hansom, George Hudson, John Hodgson, and George Donald.
It was at Cumberland House that Thompson's life would take a new path. In October, 1789, Philip Turnor arrived to plan a surveying expedition to the Athabasca country with the man in charge of Cumberland House, Malchom Ross. The study group included Turnor, Ross, George Hudson, and the young Peter Fidler. The invalid Thompson was invited to join in Turnor's lessons. He later wrote with remembered pride & pleasure that 'during the winter [I] became his only assistant and thus learned practical astronomy under an excellent master of the science' (Glover, 55).
By 1789, Philip Turnor had been the HBC's official surveyor for over ten years. His work had been included in the nautical almanacs, which seems to have impressed and possibly inspired Thompson. Turnor may also have influenced another great explorer. He bumped into Alexander Mackenzie shortly after the North West Company (NWC) explorer returned from his journey to the Arctic Ocean, and it seems that Turnor's skeptical reception caused Mackenzie to return to England and brush up on his navigational skills before he made his journey to the Pacific (Lamb, 18-19).
During his navigational training that winter, Thompson became blind in his right eye, probably due to observing the sun without proper eye protection. (See 'A Theory on the Cause of David Thompson's Blindness', Northwest Journal Vol. II, pp. 23-26) In the spring of 1790, Thompson was still too weak to accompany Ross, Turnor & Fidler on the Athabasca journey. Instead, Thompson was ordered to accompany a brigade to York Factory. They departed Cumberland House on June 9. He surveyed this route as he traveled, using a sextant and watch borrowed from Philip Turnor. After a short stay at York Factory, Thompson returned to spend the winter at Cumberland House, where he returned Turnor's instruments.
TURNOR, PHILIP, HBC inland surveyor; b. c. 1751; d. 1799 or 1800.
When first engaged by the Hudson’s Bay Company on 30 April 1778, Philip Turnor was described as a resident “of Laleham Middx. 27 yrs. age not marry’d brot up in farming business.” Recommended to the London committee by William Wales, who had spent the winter of 1768–69 at Prince of Wales’s Fort (Churchill, Man.), Turnor signed on with the company to serve as an inland surveyor for three years at £50 per annum, and sailed for York Factory (Man.), arriving there on 24 Aug. 1778.
Although the company had previously encouraged such servants as Joseph Robson* and Anthony Henday* to survey and explore its holdings in Rupert’s Land, Turnor was the first to be engaged specifically as a surveyor to map “the Lattitudes and Longitudes of all their settlements . . . also their respective distances from each regularly adjusted.” After surveying the grounds of York he was ordered by Humphrey Marten, chief at York, to map the route to Cumberland House (Sask.) and the newly established post of Upper Hudson House (near Wandsworth, Sask.), and then, if possible, to make his way to Fort Albany and Moose Factory (Ont.) “thro the Lakes inland.” He reached Cumberland on 11 Oct. 1778 and the following March he, William Walker, and others set out with a dog-team on the 280-mile journey over ice to Upper Hudson House, arriving there on the 19th. He was prevented from attempting to survey the Canadians’ upper settlement, in the Eagle Hills (to the south of Battleford, Sask.), by the news that a band of Indians had killed two of the Canadians and plundered the post. Turnor returned to York on 15 July by canoe with the information he later incorporated into his “Chart of the rivers and lakes falling into Hudsons Bay according to a survey taken in the years 1778 & 9.”
Turnor was next involved in surveying the route from Albany to its two outposts, Henley House (at the junction of the Albany and Kenogami rivers, Ont.) and Gloucester House (Washi Lake, Ont.). After spending the early winter of 1779 at Albany with Thomas Hutchins, Turnor set out in February 1780 to walk to Henley with five others. Eleven days later he arrived, snow-blind and exhausted. He rested until mid-March, but was prevented from continuing to Gloucester by lack of provisions, and returned to Albany. In June 1780 he set out for Gloucester once more, by canoe, and reached it on 8 July. Returning to Albany on 11 August, he sailed to Moose in September, and that December he walked back to Albany “to take a sketch of the coast as it appears in Winter.” On 22 Jan. 1781 he set out to visit Rupert River (Que.) and Eastmain House (at the mouth of Rivière Eastmain, Que.). After failing in his attempt to walk to Mesagamy Lake (Kesagami Lake, Ont.) in April, Turnor travelled in May to Wapiscogamy (later Brunswick) House (near the junction of the Opasatika and Missinaibi rivers, Ont.), Moose’s new outpost. He spent June surveying the route from there to Michipicoten House, a Canadian post at the mouth of the Michipicoten River on Lake Superior. He then tried to reach the Canadian post on Lake Abitibi (Ont.) but found the rivers too difficult. He was back at Moose on 13 July. A second attempt to get to Abitibi in August failed, but Turnor agreed when he renewed his contract in September 1781 to trade at Abitibi. While at Moose he drew plans in March 1782 for a new post at Henley. That May he left for Abitibi, returning on 2 August.
Although employed as a surveyor, Turnor took charge of Brunswick House on 14 Oct. 1782. During the winter he suffered so badly from rheumatism that he was unable to go down to Moose in March 1783 to consider company policy after the capture of York and Prince of Wales’s Fort by the Comte de Lapérouse [Galaup]. Turnor served as master at Brunswick until the spring of 1784, when he was ordered to establish a new post “towards Abitibi.” He left Moose in June with two large and four small canoes and two new bateaux. All his craft proved defective, however, and he was forced to stop 80 miles short of Lake Abitibi. After wintering at the junction of the Abitibi and Frederick House rivers, he moved south the following spring and built a post on the shores of Frederick House Lake (Ont.). He served there as master until July 1787, when he was sent out to survey the Canadian posts in the Lake Abitibi-Lake Timiskaming region. He then returned to Moose and sailed for England in command of the Beaver sloop on 9 September.
In London Turnor worked on his maps and in November 1788 was paid 20 guineas by the HBC for his “Draught of several inland settlements belonging to the company.” He was also probably consulted about the notion of establishing a trade route from the Saskatchewan River to Lake Athabasca (Alta) and from there to the Pacific. Peter Pond*, a Montreal-based trader, had traded at Lake Athabasca in 1778–79, making an enormous profit and producing a map which made a route to the Pacific seem feasible. The possibility of a trade route through Rupert’s Land, in an age still hoping for a northwest passage to China, concerned Alexander Dalrymple, Samuel Hearne, William Wales, and the London committee. Turnor, who had recovered his health, was engaged on 16 May 1789 primarily to establish the position of Lake Athabasca and to find a route to it from the Saskatchewan River. He reached York Factory on 27 August and left for Cumberland, arriving there on 7 October.
During the winter of 1789–90 at Cumberland Turnor taught surveying to Peter Fidler* and David Thompson*, who was recovering from a broken leg. In June 1790, while awaiting the arrival of supplies, Turnor met Alexander Mackenzie*, who told him of his trip down the Mackenzie River (N.W.T.) to the sea. Turnor wrote that Mackenzie “thinks it the Hyperborean Sea but he does not seem acquainted with Observations which makes me think he is not well convinced where he has been.”
The party that set out for Lake Athabasca on 13 September consisted of Malchom Ross and his Indian wife and two children, Turnor, Fidler, and four Orkney servants, all in two canoes. Badly provisioned, the party was constantly helped by Canadian traders. At Île-à-la-Crosse (Sask.) its members wintered in two houses lent to them by Patrick Small, a Canadian, who also provisioned them when they set out the following May. Turnor arrived at Fort Chipewyan (Alta), on Lake Athabasca, on 28 June 1791. From there he canoed down Slave River to Great Slave Lake (N.W.T.). Deciding it was too late to explore farther to the northwards, he returned to Lake Athabasca and spent most of August trying to find a way from the east end of the lake into Churchill River. He then returned to a house, which Ross was building near the Canadian fort. Turnor, who kept a careful record of the trade at Fort Chipewyan, considered the post to be “the Grand Magazine of the Athapiscow Country,” and concluded that the Canadians could afford to compete at a loss elsewhere as long as they kept their monopoly of the rich Athabascan trade. Convinced that the Indians would patronize a HBC post if one were built there, he began preparations for his return journey in April, before the ice was clear from the Athabasca River, in the hope of getting to York in time to persuade the council there to send supplies and establish a post. Although he reached York on 17 July, he did not carry his point, since, as he believed, William Tomison*, chief inland, “had set his face against any undertaking to the Northward.” Turnor returned to England in October 1792.
In London the apathy of the York council was overruled. In 1793 Ross was ordered to organize an expedition to the Athabasca country and to establish a post there. Though the project proved endlessly difficult it ultimately proved crucial to the company’s fortunes. In the mean time Turnor worked on his maps and in 1795 was given by the London committee the watch he had used on his trips as well as £100 “in consideration of his services in having surveyed the Company’s several Settlements & explored several New Tracts & laid down the same in a large and accurate Map.” In retirement Turnor lived at Rotherhithe (London), and taught navigation. Apart from his formal relations with the HBC little is known of him. Obviously a courageous and conscientious man and a competent traveller and surveyor, he left no intimate or personal records. He must have died shortly after 4 Dec. 1799, when he last wrote to the company, for on 26 March 1800 the London committee read “a Petition from Elizabeth Turnor Wife of Philip Turnor Geographer to this Company, lately deceased, praying for some pecuniary assistance.”
The importance of Turnor’s work lies within the general context of the surveying effort launched by the HBC in 1778. Seeking to establish the positions of its inland posts and the river routes that linked them, the company amassed a wealth of information concerning the interior of North America that was published as a map in 1795 by Aaron Arrowsmith, the London cartographer. Entitled “A map exhibiting all the new discoveries in the interior parts of North America,” the Arrowsmith map was often reissued and became the basis of many subsequent maps of Canada. Indeed, as Arrowsmith wrote in 1794, the work of the company’s servants, Turnor among them, “had laid the permanent Foundation for the Geography of that part of the Globe.”
E. E. Rich
HBRS, XIV (Rich and Johnson), XV (Rich and Johnson). Journals of Hearne and Turnor (Tyrrell), [Alexander Mackenzie], The journals and letters of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, ed. and intro. W. K. Lamb (Cambridge, Eng., 1970). Moose Fort journals, 1783–85, ed. E. E. Rich and A. M. Johnson, intro. G. P. de T. Glazebrook (London, 1954). [David Thompson], David Thompson’s narrative, 1784–1812, ed. R. [G.] Glover (new ed., Toronto, 1962). Rich, History of HBC, II.
© 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval
This information came from www.ancestry.com
Carol Vint email address cvint@mts.net
Updated: 2006-04-20 03:15:02
ID: I0052
Name: Philip Turnor
Sex: M
Birth: 1751 in Laleham, Middlesex, England
Death: BEF. 1800 in Rotherhithe, England
Reference Number: 52
Marriage 1 Unknown Eskimo Woman b: 1752 Married: 1782
Children:
1.Joseph Sr. Turnor b: 1784 in Abitibi River Country, Ont.
2.Mary Turnor
Marriage 2 Elizabeth Armstrong
Married: 9 OCT 1785 in Stepney Spitalfields in Christs Church, England
Across The River
Philip Turnor was the first scientific observer in western Canada. His greatest achievement is considered to be the training of David Thompson and Peter Fidler in the sciences of surveying, calculations and making maps.
Found on the internet:
Look for Plaque #16.
Plaque Location: In small park beside H-Way 17 at Michipicoten River Crossing, Wawa
THE MICHIPICOTEN CANOE ROUTE
The nearby Michipicoten River formed an important link in the canoe route from Lake Superior to James Bay via the Michipicoten, Missinaibi and Moose Rivers. The route was probably explored at an early date by the French fur traders who maintained a post at Michipicoten. However the first recorded journeys were not made until the 1770's when the Hudson's Bay Company began to establish fur-trading posts along this route inland from Moose Fort. In 1781 Philip Turnor, the Company's first full-time surveyor, made a detailed investigation of the waterway. Considerable improvements were made to the portages along the route which, after 1821, became the Hudson's Bay Company's supply-line for its Lake Superior District. Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario
Turnor, Philip.
Turnor, Philip, surveyor, fur trader (b in Eng c 1751; d at London, Eng 1799 or 1800). The first servant of the HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY employed specifically to survey and map its vast empire, he accumulated, in the course of his employment from 1778 to 1792, a considerable part of the information on the northern interior of N America published on Arrowsmith's map in 1795 (see CARTOGRAPHY). In 1789-90 he taught surveying to David THOMPSON and Peter FIDLER; and during his last assignment, to establish the position of Lake Athabasca and to find a route to it from the Saskatchewan R, he met Alexander MACKENZIE, whom he evidently persuaded to seek instruction in navigation before continuing his explorations. His enthusiastic evaluation of the great fur trading potential of the Athabasca region led to the establishment of the first HBC post there in 1793.
Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada
Philip Turnor National Historic Person of Canada
Life span: 1751-1800
Moose Factory, Ontario
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Designated: 1973
Plaque Status: Plaqued in 1978
Hudson's Bay Company surveyor, explored the Athabasca (1790-1792)
Over the years, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) made periodic requests to the school for students to be apprenticed to the North American fur trade. Many of these students would later receive training from Philip Turnor, the HBC's first chief surveyor. Among these pupils were Joseph Hansom, George Hudson, John Hodgson, and George Donald.
It was at Cumberland House that Thompson's life would take a new path. In October, 1789, Philip Turnor arrived to plan a surveying expedition to the Athabasca country with the man in charge of Cumberland House, Malchom Ross. The study group included Turnor, Ross, George Hudson, and the young Peter Fidler. The invalid Thompson was invited to join in Turnor's lessons. He later wrote with remembered pride & pleasure that 'during the winter [I] became his only assistant and thus learned practical astronomy under an excellent master of the science' (Glover, 55).
By 1789, Philip Turnor had been the HBC's official surveyor for over ten years. His work had been included in the nautical almanacs, which seems to have impressed and possibly inspired Thompson. Turnor may also have influenced another great explorer. He bumped into Alexander Mackenzie shortly after the North West Company (NWC) explorer returned from his journey to the Arctic Ocean, and it seems that Turnor's skeptical reception caused Mackenzie to return to England and brush up on his navigational skills before he made his journey to the Pacific (Lamb, 18-19).
During his navigational training that winter, Thompson became blind in his right eye, probably due to observing the sun without proper eye protection. (See 'A Theory on the Cause of David Thompson's Blindness', Northwest Journal Vol. II, pp. 23-26) In the spring of 1790, Thompson was still too weak to accompany Ross, Turnor & Fidler on the Athabasca journey. Instead, Thompson was ordered to accompany a brigade to York Factory. They departed Cumberland House on June 9. He surveyed this route as he traveled, using a sextant and watch borrowed from Philip Turnor. After a short stay at York Factory, Thompson returned to spend the winter at Cumberland House, where he returned Turnor's instruments.
TURNOR, PHILIP, HBC inland surveyor; b. c. 1751; d. 1799 or 1800.
When first engaged by the Hudson’s Bay Company on 30 April 1778, Philip Turnor was described as a resident “of Laleham Middx. 27 yrs. age not marry’d brot up in farming business.” Recommended to the London committee by William Wales, who had spent the winter of 1768–69 at Prince of Wales’s Fort (Churchill, Man.), Turnor signed on with the company to serve as an inland surveyor for three years at £50 per annum, and sailed for York Factory (Man.), arriving there on 24 Aug. 1778.
Although the company had previously encouraged such servants as Joseph Robson* and Anthony Henday* to survey and explore its holdings in Rupert’s Land, Turnor was the first to be engaged specifically as a surveyor to map “the Lattitudes and Longitudes of all their settlements . . . also their respective distances from each regularly adjusted.” After surveying the grounds of York he was ordered by Humphrey Marten, chief at York, to map the route to Cumberland House (Sask.) and the newly established post of Upper Hudson House (near Wandsworth, Sask.), and then, if possible, to make his way to Fort Albany and Moose Factory (Ont.) “thro the Lakes inland.” He reached Cumberland on 11 Oct. 1778 and the following March he, William Walker, and others set out with a dog-team on the 280-mile journey over ice to Upper Hudson House, arriving there on the 19th. He was prevented from attempting to survey the Canadians’ upper settlement, in the Eagle Hills (to the south of Battleford, Sask.), by the news that a band of Indians had killed two of the Canadians and plundered the post. Turnor returned to York on 15 July by canoe with the information he later incorporated into his “Chart of the rivers and lakes falling into Hudsons Bay according to a survey taken in the years 1778 & 9.”
Turnor was next involved in surveying the route from Albany to its two outposts, Henley House (at the junction of the Albany and Kenogami rivers, Ont.) and Gloucester House (Washi Lake, Ont.). After spending the early winter of 1779 at Albany with Thomas Hutchins, Turnor set out in February 1780 to walk to Henley with five others. Eleven days later he arrived, snow-blind and exhausted. He rested until mid-March, but was prevented from continuing to Gloucester by lack of provisions, and returned to Albany. In June 1780 he set out for Gloucester once more, by canoe, and reached it on 8 July. Returning to Albany on 11 August, he sailed to Moose in September, and that December he walked back to Albany “to take a sketch of the coast as it appears in Winter.” On 22 Jan. 1781 he set out to visit Rupert River (Que.) and Eastmain House (at the mouth of Rivière Eastmain, Que.). After failing in his attempt to walk to Mesagamy Lake (Kesagami Lake, Ont.) in April, Turnor travelled in May to Wapiscogamy (later Brunswick) House (near the junction of the Opasatika and Missinaibi rivers, Ont.), Moose’s new outpost. He spent June surveying the route from there to Michipicoten House, a Canadian post at the mouth of the Michipicoten River on Lake Superior. He then tried to reach the Canadian post on Lake Abitibi (Ont.) but found the rivers too difficult. He was back at Moose on 13 July. A second attempt to get to Abitibi in August failed, but Turnor agreed when he renewed his contract in September 1781 to trade at Abitibi. While at Moose he drew plans in March 1782 for a new post at Henley. That May he left for Abitibi, returning on 2 August.
Although employed as a surveyor, Turnor took charge of Brunswick House on 14 Oct. 1782. During the winter he suffered so badly from rheumatism that he was unable to go down to Moose in March 1783 to consider company policy after the capture of York and Prince of Wales’s Fort by the Comte de Lapérouse [Galaup]. Turnor served as master at Brunswick until the spring of 1784, when he was ordered to establish a new post “towards Abitibi.” He left Moose in June with two large and four small canoes and two new bateaux. All his craft proved defective, however, and he was forced to stop 80 miles short of Lake Abitibi. After wintering at the junction of the Abitibi and Frederick House rivers, he moved south the following spring and built a post on the shores of Frederick House Lake (Ont.). He served there as master until July 1787, when he was sent out to survey the Canadian posts in the Lake Abitibi-Lake Timiskaming region. He then returned to Moose and sailed for England in command of the Beaver sloop on 9 September.
In London Turnor worked on his maps and in November 1788 was paid 20 guineas by the HBC for his “Draught of several inland settlements belonging to the company.” He was also probably consulted about the notion of establishing a trade route from the Saskatchewan River to Lake Athabasca (Alta) and from there to the Pacific. Peter Pond*, a Montreal-based trader, had traded at Lake Athabasca in 1778–79, making an enormous profit and producing a map which made a route to the Pacific seem feasible. The possibility of a trade route through Rupert’s Land, in an age still hoping for a northwest passage to China, concerned Alexander Dalrymple, Samuel Hearne, William Wales, and the London committee. Turnor, who had recovered his health, was engaged on 16 May 1789 primarily to establish the position of Lake Athabasca and to find a route to it from the Saskatchewan River. He reached York Factory on 27 August and left for Cumberland, arriving there on 7 October.
During the winter of 1789–90 at Cumberland Turnor taught surveying to Peter Fidler* and David Thompson*, who was recovering from a broken leg. In June 1790, while awaiting the arrival of supplies, Turnor met Alexander Mackenzie*, who told him of his trip down the Mackenzie River (N.W.T.) to the sea. Turnor wrote that Mackenzie “thinks it the Hyperborean Sea but he does not seem acquainted with Observations which makes me think he is not well convinced where he has been.”
The party that set out for Lake Athabasca on 13 September consisted of Malchom Ross and his Indian wife and two children, Turnor, Fidler, and four Orkney servants, all in two canoes. Badly provisioned, the party was constantly helped by Canadian traders. At Île-à-la-Crosse (Sask.) its members wintered in two houses lent to them by Patrick Small, a Canadian, who also provisioned them when they set out the following May. Turnor arrived at Fort Chipewyan (Alta), on Lake Athabasca, on 28 June 1791. From there he canoed down Slave River to Great Slave Lake (N.W.T.). Deciding it was too late to explore farther to the northwards, he returned to Lake Athabasca and spent most of August trying to find a way from the east end of the lake into Churchill River. He then returned to a house, which Ross was building near the Canadian fort. Turnor, who kept a careful record of the trade at Fort Chipewyan, considered the post to be “the Grand Magazine of the Athapiscow Country,” and concluded that the Canadians could afford to compete at a loss elsewhere as long as they kept their monopoly of the rich Athabascan trade. Convinced that the Indians would patronize a HBC post if one were built there, he began preparations for his return journey in April, before the ice was clear from the Athabasca River, in the hope of getting to York in time to persuade the council there to send supplies and establish a post. Although he reached York on 17 July, he did not carry his point, since, as he believed, William Tomison*, chief inland, “had set his face against any undertaking to the Northward.” Turnor returned to England in October 1792.
In London the apathy of the York council was overruled. In 1793 Ross was ordered to organize an expedition to the Athabasca country and to establish a post there. Though the project proved endlessly difficult it ultimately proved crucial to the company’s fortunes. In the mean time Turnor worked on his maps and in 1795 was given by the London committee the watch he had used on his trips as well as £100 “in consideration of his services in having surveyed the Company’s several Settlements & explored several New Tracts & laid down the same in a large and accurate Map.” In retirement Turnor lived at Rotherhithe (London), and taught navigation. Apart from his formal relations with the HBC little is known of him. Obviously a courageous and conscientious man and a competent traveller and surveyor, he left no intimate or personal records. He must have died shortly after 4 Dec. 1799, when he last wrote to the company, for on 26 March 1800 the London committee read “a Petition from Elizabeth Turnor Wife of Philip Turnor Geographer to this Company, lately deceased, praying for some pecuniary assistance.”
The importance of Turnor’s work lies within the general context of the surveying effort launched by the HBC in 1778. Seeking to establish the positions of its inland posts and the river routes that linked them, the company amassed a wealth of information concerning the interior of North America that was published as a map in 1795 by Aaron Arrowsmith, the London cartographer. Entitled “A map exhibiting all the new discoveries in the interior parts of North America,” the Arrowsmith map was often reissued and became the basis of many subsequent maps of Canada. Indeed, as Arrowsmith wrote in 1794, the work of the company’s servants, Turnor among them, “had laid the permanent Foundation for the Geography of that part of the Globe.”
E. E. Rich
HBRS, XIV (Rich and Johnson), XV (Rich and Johnson). Journals of Hearne and Turnor (Tyrrell), [Alexander Mackenzie], The journals and letters of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, ed. and intro. W. K. Lamb (Cambridge, Eng., 1970). Moose Fort journals, 1783–85, ed. E. E. Rich and A. M. Johnson, intro. G. P. de T. Glazebrook (London, 1954). [David Thompson], David Thompson’s narrative, 1784–1812, ed. R. [G.] Glover (new ed., Toronto, 1962). Rich, History of HBC, II.
© 2000 University of Toronto/Université Laval
Canoe Ride with a Prince
In 1901, the then Prince of Wales came to Canada. John Polson was one of the men who went to Ottawa to take the Prince for a canoe ride. It was an honour he felt was the highlight of his eighty-two years of life on the Northern Frontier.
Source: Turn of the Century... stories about northern pioneers from the early
1900's, 1992 by David McLaren
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Merry Christmas & Happy 2011!
This is my all time favourite book! I don't have mine for this year I left in a different province but I will get it back. My parents gave it to me when I was a little girl!
Merry Christmas!
I love this book too! Classic!
Merry Christmas!
I love this book too! Classic!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Dominion of Canada 1867
What were your ancestors on Dominion Day in 1867?
Find out by searching through archived documents like census, archives of Ontario and other resources.
Find a Map of Canada in 1867
July 1, 1867
Kingdom, Dominion or Just Plain Canada? Read: History of that day!
Imagine yourself a small child looking up at the fireworks and knowing that today is going to change the place you live forever! You can see the smiles on everyones faces and your parents are talking about how it's going to be different from know on. What would that be like?
Find out by searching through archived documents like census, archives of Ontario and other resources.
Find a Map of Canada in 1867
July 1, 1867
Kingdom, Dominion or Just Plain Canada? Read: History of that day!
Imagine yourself a small child looking up at the fireworks and knowing that today is going to change the place you live forever! You can see the smiles on everyones faces and your parents are talking about how it's going to be different from know on. What would that be like?
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers
Keep Learning...
Throughout history, boundaries and borders have been redrawn. Knowing where those lines fell during the life of your ancestors is another key to finding your story!
Go to ancestry.com or ancestry.ca
Go to search (at top of screen along the panel of choices), search all records (drop down window), see more (at the bottome of the features section) and then you will have all the record collections in front of you.
Click on:
"Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers" or see more for a complete library of maps (countries, years...)at the bottom of the title "Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers"
Ancestry Map Search Link
Good Luck on your findings.
Throughout history, boundaries and borders have been redrawn. Knowing where those lines fell during the life of your ancestors is another key to finding your story!
Go to ancestry.com or ancestry.ca
Go to search (at top of screen along the panel of choices), search all records (drop down window), see more (at the bottome of the features section) and then you will have all the record collections in front of you.
Click on:
"Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers" or see more for a complete library of maps (countries, years...)at the bottom of the title "Maps, Atlases & Gazetteers"
Ancestry Map Search Link
Good Luck on your findings.
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