Whilst Cotchford Farm was the particular interest for Hartfield History, Kevin Last was quick to point out that the name of the farm in the diary was Scotsford Farm but his research had pointed conclusively to it being the old name of Cotchford Farm. (I found that there was a Scotsford Bridge in a list of cross roads published for the convenience of travellers as a pocket book in 1804 but its exact location was not clear to me although definitely in this area. CS)
Kevin had an Aunt who lived in Brighton to the age of 98 and in her later years, whilst helping her to clear out a lifetimes collection, he came across a couple of exercise books dating from the 1850’s. One was simply full of maths but the other was written as a diary setting out in precise detail the story of a man who at the age of 23 left Scotsford Farm for a year, to work on the Great Lakes in Canada in the mid 1800’s. Kevin assumes that his aunt had got the books from an antique shop in Brighton where doubtless it had been given by a descendant who decided they did not want it but that it might interest someone else.
It seems that the farm was owned by Henry Young who lived there in the 1850’s with his family of two sons and a daughter and it was one of these sons, William, who wrote the diary during an adventurous trip.
The diary consisted of 48 pages, very precisely written and Kevin had spent two years going through and in effect translating and transcribing the story.
After a short summary of the two most famous/infamous previous owners of Cotchford Farm, Kevin described from the diary how William Young left on a rainy June day to go to London to catch a train to Liverpool for a ship across the Atlantic. We were shown a picture of the first page with the date 1854 written at the top.
The 190ft, 3-masted ship called the William Tapscott was the flagship of the fleet named after its owner who, along with his brother would go to any lengths to fleece the public. The family had gained a strong criminal history although this was unknown to our traveller who would be promised 1st class travel in the hands of a safe and good captain. In fact, the ships were much smaller than was claimed and people were treated like dirt. Little better than prison rations and sometimes not enough water but of course the Tapscotts had their money by then.
Kevin had found a ditty written about the Tapscotts which read:
“As I walked out one morning just by the Clarence Dock
Heave away my johnnies, heave away
Was there I met an Irish girl conversing with Tapscott,
Good morning Mr Tapscott, good morning my dear says he,
Do you have a Packet ship to bear me over the seas?
Oh yes I have a special ship, she’s a packet of merchant fame
She’s lying at the Waterloo Dock and the Henry Clay is her name
Bad luck unto the Henry Clay and the day she set sail
for then sailors got drunk & broke into the bunk and they stole my clothes away
‘Twas at the Castle Garden they landed me on the shore
and if I marry a Yankee boy I’d sail the seas no more.”
Kevin had researched the later history of the William Tapscott. It seems that in 1873, 19 years after Wm Young’s trip, the crew had mutinied because they said the ship was not sea-worthy as not enough money had been spent on maintenance and they were not going to take it round Cape Horn. After a trial the Captains people said the boat was perfectly OK and the mutineers were sent home under guard. Eventually in 1888 the ship carrying a cargo of granite foundered on rocks off the Cornish coast and, although the crew were rescued by rocket line sent from the shore, that was the end of the ship. The granite only reappeared in the 1930’s and was used as a basis for footpaths in and around Bude.
Wm Young’s description of the trip across the Atlantic and the storms that were encountered is described in his entry of 18th July:
“Very strong wind and rough sea. A heavy gale came on about noon. Took the sails in and the ship tossed and turned very much. The women were frightened very much some are crying and some are praying. Gale continued until 4 o’clock on the 19th.”
The sails are taken in to avoid the mast being broken but without them the ship is effectively without any control but Young, our diarist, is remarkably relaxed.
“I wanted to see once in my life a storm at sea” he records. “The captain was concerned about the mast falling so it was a restless night – but it cured me of seasickness.”
You booked your passage and took your chances, fending for yourself for the most part. Young paid £12 for a bed roll.
They eventually drew close to land and he tells us that on the 12th August “there was a great deal of singing on board and the passengers stayed up in expectation of seeing land at the break of day.” Clearly relief!
The tugboat Heracles took them up the river to the quarantine grounds where their cases and their health were checked and he then spent a night in New York before taking a train to Buffalo and then on to Lake Erie which is some 200 miles long and 70 miles wide.
His final destination was the eastern end on the Canadian side of the lake where there were towns that had been named after ones from which the population had emigrated. Port Dover to the north and Dunkirk to the south for instance and even a river Thames!
Our diarist seems to have been a very hard worker and records that he:
“Arose at 5 am and walked to Simcoe a distance of 8 miles before breakfast and engaged to work for Mr Wilton at Wyndham Mill for the first month at 18 dollars with board and lodging. Walked from there to Mr Adis and was received with the greatest kindness and had dinner with him and the workers.”
“On the 23rd also walked to Port Arcy? Came through a large field of sand no weeds to be seen but hills of sand. Walk to Port Dover and paid 12 cents for a glass of ale. Only afford one at that enormous price.”
The depth map of Lake Erie shows that it is very shallow and it seems that, apart from suffering badly from pollution, the weather could be extreme for sailing craft and it was estimated that there were some 2000 shipwrecks in that lake alone due often to tremendous storms with nowhere to shelter. So, you take your life in your own hands.
In addition, the winter could be very harsh and we were shown a picture of the lake covered in massive blocks of ice.
The diary tells a lot about his working. Sometimes got up at 3 o’clock in the morning and worked through to the evening – tremendous worker. Sunday he might go out shooting and observes “saw some Indians (Native Americans) but not in their native dress” and considers going out with them. Kevin comments that only 200 miles further north some native Americans had a reputation for taking scalps – so perhaps he should reconsider!
The diary is fundamentally a history of a year spent on Lake Erie working and making friends. He went to a temperance meeting and tells us that the doctor who lectured was drunk! All the time he has an enquiring mind. He found that some of the mills quite regularly caught fire sometimes arson, sometimes just carelessness.
Diary in September. “Rained all day, rather cool, packing flour & chipping. On the Sunday 10th rather poorly, got up at 7 o’clock, went to work on the river Lynn mill in the afternoon. Mr Adis and myself went to tea and came home at 9 pm and went to bed. On the 11th packing flour, left off doing customer work. On 12th sent off about 100 lbs of wheat, shopping at the distillery and went to tea and enjoyed myself very well at Mr Hills.”
In season they had apple or cherry parties where they gorged on the crop. Young reported that cherries promptly made him sick!
With the deep winter coming on he paid $4 for clothes and cap and paid Mrs White 15 shillings for 3 pairs of socks. He also paid $6.50 for a pair of long boots. Winter is particularly hard – still had some parties
Had some problems with his teeth. Eventually goes to see a doctor who takes out 3 teeth having given him a dose of chloroform with no effect. “Tried a double dose but still with little effect apart from a rapid beating of my heart and loss of sight” Recovered before they operated! Charged $0.5 per tooth. “Pain over my eyes all evening and went to bed early.” Despite the somewhat brutal treatment he does say that he was no longer troubled by his teeth!
In 1855 he made a trip to Niagara. “Took the great western railway to the suspension bridge got there 1pm and got rid of our yakety companions! Walked to the Falls on the Canada side and slept there all the afternoon. Went to the museum and the Indian sanctuary and saw the buffalo. Also saw the skeleton of a whale. Splendid flowers in the hot houses. Cut a cedar stick at the falls and entered my name in the register. Slept at the Elgin hotel close to the suspension bridge. Walked over the suspension bridge. The falls were the most stupendous works of nature I ever saw. The span of the suspension bridge 820 ft with 4860 wires in each great cable, 4 in number. A French philosopher estimates the cataract at 4,533,143 horse power or 19 times all the motive power of Great Britain – or more than sufficient to drive all the factories in the world! “A very detailed man. Kevin felt he would have made a good engineer!
In the middle of 1855 our friend has some bad luck. He got some steel in his eye and suffered badly from this. “Next day my eye very bad. Poultice of slippery elm to try and draw it out. Got better towards morning. Alum curd good to help the inflation from the eye.” His eye is quite bad for the next few days and then he gets some more steel in his eye. About this time, he is thinking about leaving Canada!
“Commenced to work last day in Canada, the worst time for dusting in the whole year. Rather poorly but better than I was yesterday, much worse in the afternoon, left off work at 4 o’clock and went to bed with a chill – no sleep. Sunday went out to the pond in a boat, fever and chill came up worse in the afternoon” He doesn’t give himself much time to recover. On 27th tells about saying goodbye and collecting the balance of his wages.
At this point we are told by Kevin that the diary becomes illegible for what is the last two pages.
Back home in 1858 his father Henry Young sells the farm by auction and dies later the same year. His wife dies in 1866. There is no mention of William Young. No record of the farm being passed to either son so we just don’t know what happened to William. No census info. Why is there no connection with his father or family? The fact that the diary was found in Brighton is the only clue that William Young did return or does it?
Kevin likes to think that there is a grave somewhere in East Sussex but apart from discovering one descendant in the Manchester area who is actually a descendant of his brother Spencer and has yet to make contact, this is the end of the story of William Young and his diary – so far!
