Gail, I'm sure settlers had different circumstances. I bought a couple books on voyages, and experiences once they arrived. _http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/oxford/resources/index.htm_ (http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/oxford/resources/index.htm) you may find others on your area of settlement. My people were highlanders and from the border region. When my relatives came to upper Canada (Ontario) the settlers came into the "naked bush", meaning all the trees and brush were still untouched. They took seven weeks to get there and it was immediately necessary to build a shanty (a rough shelter, not a cabin. They cut a band of bark off about 6 inches wide, that killed the folliage above the stripe. This was necessary to get the ground ready to plant so there would be something (usually winter wheat) to eat the following year. The brush was cleared underneath but it was not a total clearence, for rows of planting, but a rough ground which was hand sown. The lumber was not logged, but cut down, as there was time, sorted into type in a pile and burned. There were several years before someone purchased a log sawing mill, and cut lumber was available for buildings. Scots preferred stone houses, and ash for mortar or fertilizers was more important than the wood. One thing the Scots learned from their German settlers nearby was to build their barns into a bank so they could develop that area into a root cellar, and the hay chart could be driven right up to the second floor of the barn. I've looked for the ship since I know they came in 1835, with no luck. Mary in Oregon In a message dated 3/16/2010 4:36:52 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, olsongayle@gmail.com writes: I have a ship question for you. My gggg grandparents, John (Ian) McMartin and Katherine Robertson were married on Valentines Day, 1798 in Weem, Perthshire and set sail for Canada shortly after that. One source said it was at the invitation of two of Katherine's brothers who were already in Canada. >From a distant cousin, I received this excerpt from a letter by Bert McMartin of Castalia, Iowa (brother to my great grandmother Elsie McMartin Oxbridge and son of Daniel Angus Mc Martin who was grandson of John & Katherine) to his Aunt Gladys (Mrs. F. M. Petty grove, Wilt on ND dated 12 DEC 1925, when Bert was about 53: " As far as I know, in 1798 John (Ian) Mc Martin and his wife Katherine amd some other relatives left Scotland (they were Highlanders) for America. They were on the ocean for several months. The captain of the vessel went crazy and sailed back and forth on the ocean for months until they were almost out of provisions. When the first mate seized the captain and put him in restraints. The mate took charge of the vessel and steered for the nearest shore, which was Labrador. It then sailed on to the Bay of Chaleurs. They stayed there probably one or two years. From there they went to Huntington, Quebec outside of Montreal and then on to St. Andrew's East, Quebec on the River Rouge." In trying to hunt this down, I've found that lumber from Canada was a popular export from this area and era and that sometimes new emigrants were the "backhaul" on these ships returning to Canada from Great Britain. Sounds like an interesting story - does anyone know any more info about this ship or the people involved? Also, I've heard that John's father (Duncan McMartin, married to Janet Gilchrist) died in Nova Scotia, but haven't been able to find documentation. Thanks for any info! The names and dates are wonderful, but the stories are my favorite - also the hardest to confirm! -Gayle Olson ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PERTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message