Over the past
month I have been trying to decide what my course project will be about, and
more importantly, what I want to do with that topic. After a great deal of brainstorming
and consultation with the professor I believe I have finally come to a decision.
For my course project I have decided to utilize research and work I had
previously done in a research project for Rural Canadian History (HIST*4620) taught
by Professor Catharine Wilson. My previous project looked at a farm diary from
early 1800's Canada and focused on masculinity and the establishment of an
immigrant family in Canada. Specifically,
this research project examined Benjamin Freure, an English immigrant, who
traveled to Canada with three of his adult sons to the township of Eramosa in
Wellington County, Upper Canada.[i]
I thought I would take the story of immigration, settlement, and later life of
the Freure family and create an online exhibit or website. This website would
be similar to that of the Berlin Wall project made with Omeka that we looked at
earlier in course readings.[ii]
This project will utilize Benjamin Freure's personal diary that covers his
journey from east England to Wellington County, Canada and his families
activities and farming exploits. The diary covers the years 1836 to 1842 with varying degrees of detail
but all six years are recorded without any major holes or missing sections.
In order to
understand how this diary focused project could work, it is necessary to have a
basic understanding of the different events and the value of this topic and its
primary sources. Ben Freure’s diary has quite a bit of detail especially in the
journey from England to Canada. This section alone gives excellent insight into
the immigration process and experience of the time. The first section of the diary
provides detailed descriptions of traveling to Canada via ship, the subsequent
quarantine, and the quest to find additional transportation by both boat and
wagon to Upper Canada. The first year of the diary alone gives great insight
into the problems and difficult conditions immigrants faced and firsthand
reactions to arriving in the new world, something that many may find
interesting. Additionally, this record
of Canadian immigration is only a part of the first year of Benjamin Freure’s multi-year
diary and the first real chapter of the Freure story as a whole. [iii]
The core of the
diary and most of the Freure family's story, however, is focused on their
farming exploits.[iv] I
find that the combination of Ben's diary, census data, maps, and personal
accounts from historical atlases will allow me to adequately tell the story of
the Freure family and their farming roots in Canada. Specifically, the Freure
family has their story begin with Augustus and Felix Freure, two of Benjamin’s
adult sons, working as farmhands for already established farmers in the
Wellington County community. From there the Freures becomes tenant farmers renting
land, eventually becoming successful landowners in Eramosa. It is from these
simple beginnings that we see the Freures take on numerous jobs and roles in
the community. Notably, the Freure sons are a key part of the community workforce
in Eramosa, assisting in harvesting, plowing, and construction. This reputation
transcends Ben's own diary as these events have been recorded in the 1906
Wellington County Atlas citing the family, especially Ben and his three sons,
as being ideal settlers and outstanding pillars of the community and whose
descendants inherited these traits in great degree.[v]
As the diary ends, the story of the Freure family become less self-narrated and
instead can be found recorded within the Women’s Institute Tweedsmuir Histories,
census data, and regional histories. [vi]
I am not entirely
sure where I want to end the Freure family history as there is less public documentation
in the mid-20th century after R. Bruce Freure who was a member of Guelph City Council
and a regional reeve in the community.[vii]
Despite the lack of available documentation, when compared to that of Ben’s
diary I still believe that Bruce’s life in regional politics is a good note to
end on instead of ending prematurely with the conclusion of Ben’s diary. From
such humble and well documented beginnings, to successful farming endeavors and
even attaining public, I believe office that the story of the Freure family is
one worth digitizing and sharing with a wider public. This is especially true
as this story also informs the early growth of Guelph and the surrounding
region from a simple settlement to a robust regional center and surrounding
hinterland. Additionally, I find that this project could possibly help
supplement ongoing projects by rural historians like Catharine Wilson who is
trying to digitize, transcribe and make available these farm diaries and rural
stories to the greater public.[viii]
Now that I have
outlined a proposed topic and scope of my project, I can explain how I intend
to present this information. From the various in-class presentations, readings,
and lectures, I believe that an online exhibit or website would be the best way
to present the Freure family story. Upon speaking with the professor, I
realized that due to the lack of a large number of primary sources that would
be expected of a standard exhibit, this project would not and could not be a typical
online exhibit. Instead I found that the type of exhibit I will construct would
be similar to that of the Berlin Wall exhibit given as an example of what
possible projects and online exhibits could look like. Within this online
exhibit the fall of the Berlin Wall and the events leading up to it are laid
out in specific sections relating to primary sources and essays regarding
specific countries in this wider narrative.[ix]
This is in theory what I hope to accomplish with my project. In order to tell
and depict the story of the Freure family’s journey from England to Canada and
their ensuing life in Wellington County, I find that specific sections related
to the different time periods or years, would be effective in organizing the content
of this project. For example, all information I have relating to the Freure family
before Ben and his family’s departure in 1836 would be within its own section.
This section would contain maps and pictures of the area the Fruere’s came from
alongside brief explanations of both England and the region they came from to
give viewers a brief overview of this time and place. The organization or
separation of primary sources and secondary literature or information must be
made separate so that it is easy to navigate and allow readers to quickly locate
items such as maps of eastern England for reference while going through the
greater narrative.
The next section
would be the family’s journey to Canada. It would make use of Ben’s diary and again
more maps of Upper and Lower Canada so that readers can reference these visual
aids while digesting the text and keeping track of Ben and his family while
they immigrate. Additionally, I believe this section would expand the overall
scope of the project significantly by looking more closely at interesting
events of the journey such as the immigrant quarantine upon arrival.
The next section
of the proposed exhibit would cover Ben and his family after they arrived in
Eramosa and began farming. Again, the diary would be used as a major source of
information alongside secondary sources such as historical atlas entries and secondary
literature. With this section I would like to utilize the GIS tools used in the
course workshop. Using these tools I would like to align old Eramosa Township
maps with more modern maps in order to show exactly where the Freures were
living and began to buy land.[x]
This would be an excellent tool in conveying how people actually bought land
and settled the regions around Guelph, something I think many people would find
interesting. Additionally, this would allow readers to understand just how much
time and effort was involved when Ben or any Freure descendant would travel to
places like Fergus as these trips were normally made on foot. A resource such
as synchronizing old and new maps brings this history to the present for a
better understanding and interest.
The next and
possibly final section would conclude the proposed narrative of the Freure
family. It is in this section that the later success and information regarding
the fate of the Freure family would be presented. This would include members of
the family long after Ben’s diary, many of which lived in the twentieth
century. Specifically, I hope to draw upon resources of the Women’s Institute
Tweedsmuir Histories related to the extended family.[xi]
As stated above, I
plan on utilizing Omeka as the primary tool in constructing this online
project.[xii]
It is my intention that Omeka will provide me a balanced tool kit that I can
easily and effectively build a website that will fulfill its intended purpose.
I have previously attempted to create simple websites from scratch using Notepad
and along with the issues of debugging, I find that the basic and uninspired
possibilities of my simple coding knowledge would be vastly inadequate and not
something I would like to attempt. Additionally, I hope to utilize the GIS
tools for this project. I believe that acquiring these skills would not only
help give this project the necessary geographic context as stated above but it
is also an area of knowledge and skills that I am genuinely interested in acquiring.
I believe this project is not only viable, but more importantly, it is a
worthwhile project to pursue both for the end result and the skills acquired in
its completion.
[i] http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onwellin/pioneers/freure_benjamin.htm
[ii] Making
The history of 1989: The fall of communism in Eastern Europe. http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/
[iii] Benjamin,
Freure. Personal Diary, (1835-1842) 4-23
[iv] Freure,
23-78
[v] Illustrated
Historical Atlas of Wellington County, Ontario, Original Toronto: Historical
Atlas Pub., 1906; Reprint: Belleville, Ont: Mika Silk
Screening, 1972. 90.
[vi] “History of the Freure Farm,” Wellington County Tweedsmuir Histories,
Speedside Women’s Institute, Vol. 1, 52, accessed February 24, 2015.
[vii] “R. Bruce Freure,” Wellington County Tweedsmuir Histories, Riverside Women’s Institute, vol. 2, 85, accessed February
24, 2015.
[viii]
http://www.uoguelph.ca/ruralhistory/research/wilson.html
[ix] Making
the History of 1989: The fall of communism in Eastern Europe. http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/
[x] Illustrated
Historical Atlas of Wellington County, Ontario, Original Toronto: Historical
Atlas Pub., 1906; Reprint: Belleville, Ont: Mika Silk
Screening, 1972. 44.
[xi] “History of the Freure Farm,” Wellington County Tweedsmuir Histories,
Speedside Women’s Institute, Vol. 1, 52, accessed February 24, 2015.
[xii] http://omeka.org/
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