As I posted in a Crew History, Tales and Truths, Bethnal Green was not a great place to live and everyone had a brickyard. Competition likely made eking out a living extremely difficult. Mortality rates were high and life expectancy rates were low. Rachel had lost a baby in 1863 and Eliza lost her last two babies in 1868 and 1870.
Life expectancy was low. Of 1,632 deaths in 1839, 1,258 (77 per cent) were of ‘mechanics, servants, and labourers’, who had an expectancy of 16 years, 273 of tradesmen, with an expectancy of 26, and 101 of gentry and professional people, with an expectancy of 45.
Although Bethnal Green was still the main silkweaving parish, the industry was in decline and weavers were under-employed. Occupations such as tailoring, furniture making, and costermongering replaced it but none was prosperous, sweated labour was prevalent, and the population was caught in a downward spiral of poverty. A modern analysis has placed Bethnal Green as the second poorest London parish in 1841, the poorest by 1871.
Bethnal Green: Building and Social Conditions from 1837 to 1875 | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk)
So, on 11 May, 1871, Richard and Rachel Pennell left 77 Esteny St., London, England and along with Rachel’s sister Eliza and her husband James Hone, and headed for Liverpool to board the S. S. Niger1 that arrived in Quebec City on 29 May, 1871.
The two families boarded the train to Sand Point (McNabb Township, Renfrew), only to find it was the “end of the steel” and also no employment. They finally settled in Carlton Place, Ontario (Beckwith Township, Lanark Co.), where they built a log cabin large enough for two families and divided it, living as such until they could get better lodgings.
Keep in mind, the Hones brought 4 children with them and the Pennells brought 4. So that makes 12 people in one log cabin.
Even though Carlton Place was very remote then, the Pennells and the Hones established a brick yard. However, lumber was ample and very inexpensive and the settlers homes were mostly constructed from log timbers. The forced the two families to try farming in Horton Township which was unsuccessful. [Not sure why. There were many successful Smiths and Eadys who farmed in Horton Township]
Rachel wanted to return to England, but Richard tried again by applying for a land grant in Bonfield Township at Rutherglen where they obtained crown land in approximately 1879.
Richard loaded his family (now 6 children) into a sleigh and made his way in the middle of winter to his 200 acres. The original log house stood on the property until 1990, when it was dismantled by Jourgen Mohr who was planning to rebuild it in another location as a heritage house. To the best of my knowledge, he never did and the fate of the timbers are unknown. I have nothing in my notes about the Hone family, but they ended up in Rutherglen as well.
The following is an email from Wayne with his thoughts on how this “adventure” may have happened and the circumstances that may have been factors:
The best way to get cows, horses, furniture from Renfrew to Rutherglen before the train would have been to do what A. W. Smith did. Horse and sleigh on the ice up the Ottawa River to Mattawa. Then up the Mattawa to the bottom of the Lake Talon chutes. Then overland to Rutherglen.
Or maybe there was a trail from the Mattawa River to Rutherglen but running your sleigh on nice flat lake ice like Lake Talon would be tempting. Only one portage at the chutes. J. R. Booth would have had this water route well worn. It’s the same route used by Samuel de Champlain and the [Indigenous Peoples]. Just need to do it in the winter.
Once you get on the Lake Talon, you could go up Sparks Creek to the Blue Sea Creek and then you’re home. There was a store/hotel on Lake Talon where Sparks Creek joins the lake. It was run by ??? Green (Andy Green’s Dad). There would have been other road houses along the way spaced out a days travel apart. You most likely would buy cows and chickens from other farmers. But guns, axes, horses, wagons, etc. would be best carried in with the wife and kids.
The roads, if any, would be best travelled in the winter with a horse and sleigh, sort of like the ice road truckers do today. The portage at the Chutes would have been a challenge – its long and steep. Would have needed some help from the loggers there. Maybe send the wife and kids on the train after you bought the farm and got set up.
2020, Dec 8, Email – Wayne Smith
Rachel was a devoted Anglican and was hostess to many Vicars who passed through Rutherglen, mostly on horseback. She died April 21, 1916 on Good Friday morning at the home of her daughter, Mrs. James McNamara, at 93 McLeod St., North Bay. Her last words were, “I can hear the angels singing”. In the church records it is written that she was “a true and earnest daughter of the church, worked for the parish from its foundation.” She was known as an Angel of Mercy, one that was always on call, attending the sick and needy.
The church burial records for Richard indicate that he was a “True and faithful son of Mother Church. R.I.P.”
1S. S. Niger Ship’s Log #71135078-4581
Most of this information is from Edna Ollivier and Myrtle Connelly