Samuel Pedlar Manuscript Transcribed from a microfilm of the original By Sharon Stark & Margaret Egerer July/August 1970 Samuel Pedlar Manuscript This small collection consists of material collected and compiled by Samuel Pedlar (brother of the founder of Pedlar People, a prominent Oshawa industrial establishment). It covers the period 1790-1904, and includes: notebooks; a map of Lake Simcoe watershed; photocopies of clippings; a typescript copy of an 1878 census of Oshawa; a copy of the Oshawa Vindicator, 1894, containing industrial history; and manuscript and typescripts copies of "From Cornwall to Canada, 1841", being facts collection by Sam Pedlar and rewritten by Charles H. Wethy (Toronto), regarding the Cornish immigration to Canada. The material was purchased from Samuel Pedlar (Oshawa) in May, 1904 and May, 1905, and borrowed from Mrs. Oscar Mills (Oshawa) in April, 1963. Dec. 10, 1969 R. Nickerson la FRAME 1 Clinton, November 21, 1894 S. Pedlar, Esq. Toronto Dear Sir: Your letter of the 9th inst relative to the name of Oshawa was duly received. I have been studying the question at this time suggested in Mr. Bateman's letter but find various difficulties. An interpretation not mentioned by him, but offered by good authority makes the word mean FRAME 2 "ferry him over." The word in Indian (i.e. Ojibway) would bear that interpretation: but how about the local application? I know little of Oshawa except what I learn from the directories. There mentions Warren Creek as a stream flowing through the town. Would this creek before it was bridged have required a ferry? And do you happen to know if there was once a ferry at Oshawa? Next, then an Indian village at or near the site of the present town? If you can give the information on these points I may be better able to find a satisfactory answer to your inquiries which I shall be happy to do. Where is the Indian reserve situated which is referred to in Mr. Bateman's letter and what is it called? Yours faithfully Horatio Hale I send you a pamphlet of names in which some Indian linguistic questions are dealt with. 2a FRAME 3 Clinton, November 26, 1894 S. Pedlar, Esq. 9 York Chambers Toronto Dear Sir: Thanks for the information given me in yours of the 23rd. I hope to be able to send you the result of my study of the subject this week. Before doing so I must require more assurances on your part. The inquiry has proved much more extensive and troublesome than I expected. My letter to you, giving my conclusions and the grounds on which they rest, will be written for publication, and will fill three or FRAME 4 four pages of ordinary type. The question could not be fully discussed in less space. The discussion involves several parts of history and ethnology which I think will be of considerable interest if the time and labour I have given to it had been employed in preparing articles for the periodicals for which I write, it would have brought me at least $10. I do not ask any money payment from you, but you will make two requests which I hope you will not consider unreasonable conditions. I should like to have the letter printed (either in an appendix or otherwise, as you may prefer) in the form in which I send it, unless you should FRAME 5 desire no alternation, which if reasonable, I will willingly make. I shall wish to see a proof of it, and, if necessary for ensuring correctness, a revise. I shall wish to have (gratis) fifty copies of the letter printed separately and sent to me for distribution among my friends in Canada, the States and Europe, who take an interest in Indian ethnology. And I should like to have also five copies of your pamphlet for some of my Canadian friends. 3a FRAME 5 continued Kindly, let me know if these conditions will be satisfactory, and I will lose no time in sending you my essay. Yours faithfully Horatio Hale P.S. Where is the Georgina Island. from which Chief Big Canoe writes? Do you know his Indian name? How should a letter be addressed to him? I send you a "N.Y. Critic" containing an article of mine. Kindly return it when you have read it. Hale, Horatio (1817-1896), ethnologist, was born at Newport, New Hampshire, on May 3, 1817, the son of David and Sara Josephs Hale. He was educated at Harvard University (B.A., 1837), and in 1837 was appointed philologist of the Wilkes expedition to the Pacific islands. In 1856 he came to Canada, and settled at Clinton, Canada West; and here he died on December 28, 1896. In 1886 he was elected president of the anthropological section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and he published, in addition to many papers contributed to learned periodicals, The Iroquois book of rites (Philadelphia, 1883) and An international idiom, a manual of the Oregon trade-language or Chinook jargon (London, 1890). In 1854 he married Mar- garet, daughter of William Pugh, sometime of Goderich township, Huron county, Upper Canada. [Cyc. Am. biog.; Rose, Cyc. Can. biog. (1886); Proc. Roy. Soc. Can., 1897.J From the Canadian Biography - the MacMillan Dictionary, 1963 page 292 4a FRAME 6 Clinton, December 4, 1894 S. Pedlar, Esq. Toronto My dear Sir: Thanks for the interesting information given me in yours of the 30th ult. You do not refer to the conditions in my last letter. Taking it for granted, however, that you are satisfied then, I enclose my copy on the "Origin of the name of Oshawa" in the form of a letter to yourself. It has cost me much time and pain. I shall expect that you will have it printed as I send it, without alteration and that you will let me see a proof and also (if I find it FRAME 7 necessary) a revise. Instead of 50 copies printed separately for distribution, I will be satisfied with 25 and as many copies of your pamphlets, from one to five, as you can spare me. If these conditions are not acceptable I must beg you to return the essay to me and I will convert it into a contribution for some scientific publication. I regret that I cannot agree with Mr. Bailey's conclusions, for the reasons given in my essay. Perhaps, when he has read it, he may be disposed to adopt my opinion. As my pamphlet on this Development of Language went astray, I send you another copy, and FRAME 8 also a later publication, "The Fall of Hochelega" both of which I hope will reach you. Kindly return me the critic and mention where I am to look for the Georgina Island, and what is the post office address of Chief Big Canoe. Can you give me his name in his own language. I return Mr. Bateman's letter and post card, with thanks for the opportunity of consulting them. You will see that I have included all their essential points in my essay, as I had to do to make this intelligible if read apart from them; but I have taken time to give him full credit. Yours faithfully Horatio Hale 5a FRAME 9 Clinton, December 10, 1894 S. Pedlar, Esq Toronto My dear sir: Your letter of the ninth instant is received. Its limiting expressions are highly appreciated, and the explanations you give are entirely satisfactory. I do not think it would be proper for me, under the circumstances to express any opinion on Mr. Bailey's communications either favourable or adverse. I therefore return it without comment. You will understand that in so doing I am actuated by no lack of respect either for Mr. Bailey or for yourself, but FRAME 10 just the reverse as regards my essay, you can either return to me at once or take it with you to (Oshawa, to show to your friends there, who may like to see it. I am surprised to learn that my letter to you of the 26 ult. written in reply to you of the 23rd ult, failed to reach you, and the pamphlet which I sent you a few days earlier was also lost. It strikes me that it may be well for you to make more inquiries and endeavor to ascertain the cause of their unusual and perplexing losses. I do not feel well assured that the present letter may not go astray. FRAME 11 Kindly reply as soon as possible that I may know it reaches you. If my paper is not to appear in your pamphlet I shall ask only for one copy of this letter. But I shall be glad to receive that and have no doubt that it will contain much matter of interest. Yours faithfully Horatio Hale P.S. You do not reply to my inquiries where Georgina Islands is situated and what is the P.O. address of Chief Big Canoe also what is his name in his own language. Kindly give me this information if you have it or can readily obtain it. I shall be glad to hear from you what you learn at Oshawa in regard to the matters under discussion. 6a FRAME 12 Clinton, March 21, 1895 S. Pedlar, Esq Toronto My dear sir: Many thanks for the interesting information in your letter of the 9th instant. Unfortunately my time is so much occupied by many engagements that 1 shall not be able to take the joint part which you kindly propose in preparing your work, or even to revise what you have written.