John Walsh

John Walsh and his wife Honora (Healy) arrived at the settlement in 1812 with the first group of settlers. There is no extant passenger list of the Robert Taylor, but Owen Keveny sent a list of settlers and servants to Lord Selkirk. The Walshes were recorded as being from Sligo, Ireland, and John’s age as 22. (1)

The 1812 group spent the winter at Pembina, where they established Fort Daer, and by summer 1813 Walsh had decided that life at Red River was not for him. In July 1813, Miles Macdonell wrote Lord Selkirk relating the many problems he was facing at the settlement, including the information that John Walsh had deserted to the North West Company. John Wills, one of the partners of the NWC on his way to Fort William, had taken Walsh into his canoe and engaged him for the NWC.

This did not turn out as Walsh had expected; at Fort William he was sent back to Red River and his wife. On 6 November 1813, at Fort Daer, Walsh testified regarding his desertion. He stated that he was an indentured servant of the Earl of Selkirk and had deserted on May 28th. He had met John Wills and told him he would like to return to Ireland. According to Walsh’s testimony, Wills told him that if he would work in a canoe, he would give him free passage in it and put him “in a way of getting to his own country”. Wills assured him that once he got to Montreal, there would be no delay in getting him back to Ireland. However, once the NWC canoes arrived at Fort William, Walsh was told that he could not get to Montreal and that he must go back to Red River and his wife. He was put into Alexander McDonell’s canoe and brought back to the colony. (2) The Walshes then remained at Fort Daer.

During their time at the settlement, two children were born to this couple: Patrick on March 15, 1813 and Bridget on February 2, 1815. There is no Red River Settlement record of Patrick’s baptism, but Miles Macdonell recorded that he had baptised Bridget at Fort Daer. The children were later baptised at Detroit by a Catholic priest, which included the information of their previous baptisms. (3)

In 1815, Walsh and his family left Red River for Upper Canada with about 140 settlers and servants in NWC canoes. The Selkirk Papers contain notes regarding the settlers who arrived at Newmarket, but the notes do not include the Walsh family. It would appear that rather than settle in Upper Canada, they made their way to the United States. (4)

 

 

(1) Library and Archives Canada, Selkirk Papers, pp. 560-562

(2) LAC, Selkirk Papers, pp. 1004-1005. Examination of John Walsh returned from desertion

(3) Baptismal records from Ste. Anne’s Parish, Detroit, 1816. Name recorded as Welsh

(4) HBCA E.7/6 fo.10: List of Red River Settlement servants and settlers from 1811-1815