SECTION II, 1912 [67 Trans. R.S$. C. 
Edward Ermatinger’s York Factory Express Journal, Being a Record of 
Journeys Made Between Fort Vancouver and Hudson Bay 
in the Years 1827-1828. 
With Introduction by Jupe C. O. ERMATINGER and Notes by JUDGE 
C. O. ERMATINGER and JAMES WuHiTE, F.R.S.C. 
Presented by J. H. Coynr, LL.D. 
(Read May 14, 1912). 
Biographical. 
Edward Ermatinger, son of Lawrence Edward Ermatinger, 
Assistant Commissary General, was born on the Island of Elba, off the 
West coast of Italy, in February 1797, and his brother Francis (“ Frank”) 
Ermatinger was born at Lisbon in the year 1798. L. E. Ermatinger was 
born in Canada, where all his brothers and sisters resided from their 
infancy, except one brother, George, who crossed the lines at Saulte Ste. 
Marie and there died. Another brother, Frederick William, was Sheriff 
(or Marshal as the office was, I believe, then termed) of Montreal from 
1813 to 1820, having succeeded his uncle Sheriff Grey, the first Sheriff 
of Montreal (1770 to 1813) under British rule. The grandfather of 
Edward and Francis Ermatinger, a Swiss merchant, must therefore 
have been among the first settlers after the conquest, his wife and Mrs. 
Grey and Mrs. Duke having been sisters of Sir Hildebrand Oakes, a 
British officer of some repute in that day, according to family tradition. 
Lawrence Edward Ermatinger was educated in England and, on 
his return to Canada, was not contented to remain with his brothers and 
sisters, but soon returned to England and was employed in the Purveyor- 
General’s Department and afterwards joined the expedition of Sir 
James Craig to the Continent as a commissariat officer. This accounts 
for Edward and Francis being born in foreign lands. Their mother, an 
Italian, died when they were infants. Soon after the lads arrived in 
_ England they were for a short time placed in a boarding school; but, 
. during the many years their father remained abroad, they experienced 
many vicissitudes of fortune in and about London. 
On peace being proclaimed, their father returned and the two lads, 
now well on in their teens, went into lodgings with him and from him 
received valuable instruction, by which they profited. Edward, 
especially, being of a more studious disposition than his brother, took 
Sec. II., 1912. 5. 
