ONTARIO - THE CASWELLS IN TRANSIT

ORONO, DARLINGTON TOWNSHIP, DURHAM COUNTY

     After three years of famine, Andrew and Mary Jane finally resolved to break with the old county and try their fortunes in Upper Canada, now known as Ontario. On May 1, 1848, an immigrant ship sailed up the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Aboard it were Andrew Caswell, his wife Mary Jane (Dickson) Caswell, two daughters, four sons, and two nephews. Mary went into labour aboard ship, and delivered her fifth son, John.  Of this John said "I had the fortune of being born of Irish protestant parents on board ship in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  My parents reached the town of Darlington in the spring of 1848 with very small means and a family of 8, most of them being boys and the oldest 14 years."
   In Rob Caswells notes on the family he mentions “When my parents came to Canada in 1848, they first stopped at Orono, Eastern Canada.  My Uncle William Caswell lived at Orono.”

     Andrew’s brother William and wife had preceded our Caswell family a few years before.  In March of 1851 William Caswell purchased one-fifth of an acre in Orono, Darlington Township.  At the time of the 1851 census William Caswell was listed as a shoemaker.  
     Many, many years before I realized our Caswells sometimes used an "r" in the spelling of their name, I had copied a query regarding the family of a William Carswell.  Although I discounted this family because of the spelling of the surname, I still kept the information.  My second phone call (the first was to John) after receiving the packet from Murray Caswell, was to the woman in Orono who had placed the query 15 years earlier. Although not a relative Helen was able to provide me with a bit more information about the William Carswell family.  

The earliest photo I have of Mary Jane Caswell

     Andrew and Mary Jane’s son Alexander (1850), Andrew (1851) and daughter, Mary Jane (1852), were born in Darlington Township, which Orono is part of.  

     The 1848 Darlington Assessment & Census Roll shows Andrew Caswell lot 18 Con 8; 1 house - non-proprietor of.  Total # of persons in house when census taken “10 free Presbyterian Church of Canada and natives of Ireland”.

     The first all-Canada census was taken in January - February 1852 (the legislation was passed a year earlier, hence the title “Census of 1851’’). 

This census gives the following information about our Caswells:

Andrew Caswell Family

1851 Census Orono, Darlington Twp.

Andrew	Weaving	Ireland	46	1806
Mary	Spinning	Ireland	36	1816
Margaret	Winder	Ireland	12	1840
Samuel	Labourer	Ireland	11	1841
William	Labourer	Ireland	9	1843
Thomas		Ireland	8	1844
John		Canada	5	1847
Andrew		Canada	4	1848
Alex K. Actually said  Anne	Baby	Canada	2	1850

William Caswell Family

1951 Census Orono, Darlington Twp.

William	Shoemaker	Ireland	42	1810
Mary	Wife	Ireland	41	1811
James		Ireland	19	1832
Samuel		Canada	13	1838
William Jr		Canada	10	1841
David		Canada	8	1843
Thomas		Canada	3	1848

Note from the 1851 Orono census taker:  " One creek runs through Orono where there are three sawmills and one grist mill.  The stream is not large but is very constant being supplied with springs not far up from the village.  I may state the village of Orono contains three hundred and fifty souls and is growing very fast."

The 1861 Darlington census for William also lists

        Mary Jane aged 8

        James aged 5

        George aged 3

Did the older James die young? 

      William Sr. sold his land in Orono in 1867 and after that date he was listed as a merchant in Toronto.
      While William plied his trade in town, his brother Andrew may have been working as a weaver. It is more likely that some landowner had let him put up his shanty on a cleared corner of his grant, and that he worked as a day labourer.  Looking over the land patents for the Township of Darlington up through 1856 no land was found patented in Andrew’s name.

  

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The Twp of Darlington & Clarke p 561 (Squair, 1927)