128 TRA.\SACTIO.VS OF THE CANADIAN lySTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



DIARY OF GOV. SIMCOE'S JOURNEY FROM HUMBER 

 BAY TO MATCHETACHE BAY, 1793. 



[The writer of the following interesting account of the above journey was the late Hon. Alex- 

 ander Macdonell, one of the best known of the early citizens of Toronto. He was born in 1762, 

 at Fort Augustus, Invernesshire, .Scotland, and was the son of Capt. Allan Macdonell, who with 

 his family and other relatives emigrated in 1773 to the Mohawk Valley, in the then British 

 Province of New York. When the Revolutionary war broke out in 1776, the Loyalist Scottish 

 settlement, to which the Macdonells belonged was disarmed, and Capt. Allan Macdonell was, 

 with others, imprisoned as a hostage for the neutrality of his kinsmen and neighbors. Sir John 

 Johnston and a number of the other settlers on the Mohawk, in May 1776, started to traverse 

 the wilderness lying between them and Montreal, and in nineteen days reached their destination 

 after undergoing the greatest hardships. Of these Loyalist pioneers young Alexander Mac- 

 donell was one. He soon afterwards, at the age of sixteen, enlisted as a cadet in the " Royal 

 Highland Emigrants," subsequently numbered the 84th Regiment. After several years of active 

 service he was transferred to "Butler's Rangers," and as a member of this famous corps he 

 took part in many stirring military episodes. After the conclusion of the war, Capt. Allan 

 Macdonell and his family received grants of land in Canada, then the Province of Quebec, and 

 they resided near Quebec city until the father's death, which took place shortly after their arrival. 

 Mis. Macdonell and her family moved to Kingston, and afterwards to Newark, now Niagara, 

 when it became the capital of the new Province of Upper Canada. Governor Simcoe, who had 

 himself been a British officer in the Revolutionary war, and had in that capacity become ac- 

 quainted with Alexander Macdonell, appointed the latter Sheriff of the Home District, which 

 included both Newark and York. As a trustworthy member of the Governor's suite he accom- 

 panied him on the trip described in the diary subjoined. Sheriff Macdonell represented the 

 Glengarry district for some time in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, and was at one 

 time Speaker of the House. When the war of 1812-14 broke out he was appointed Deputy 

 Paymaster-General, with the military rank of Colonel, while his cousin and protege, John Mac- 

 donell of Glengarry, joined the staff of General Brock, with whose remains his, and his alone, 

 lie interred under the monument on Queenston Heights. Col. Alexander Macdonell was taken 

 prisoner at the capture of Niagara in May, 1813, and was detained till the close of the war at 

 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where his father had been kept a prisoner in 1776, as narrated above. 

 After his return to Canada he held various public positions, and was in 1831 created a member 

 of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. An active and earnest member of the Roman 

 Catholic church, he rendered great assistance to his cousin. Bishop Macdonell, in building up 

 that religious community in this Province. In 1818 he erected the still prominent residence on 

 the Northwest corner of John and Adelaide streets, and at his hospitable table most of the 

 eminent men in the Province were at one time or another entertained. He was tall and com- 

 manding in figure, but quiet and somewhat reserved in manner, and could talk fluently in the 

 Gaelic, French, and Indian tongues. Colonel Macdonell died in his own residence in 1842, 

 leaving behind him five sons, one of whom, Mr. Alexander Macdonell, now Clerk of Process at 

 Osgoode Hall, has long been the careful custodian of the diary here printed for the first time. 

 The Historical Section of the Canadian Institute has passed a resolution thanking Mr. Mac- 

 donell for permission to print the diary, and respectfully requesting him to have it placed for 

 permanent preservation in one or other of the public libraries in Toronto.] 



1793. September 24th. — Lieutenant Pilkington of the R. E., Lieutenant 

 Darling of the 5th Regiment, Lieutenant Givens of the 2nd Rangers, and 



