WILLIAM MINCHIN TELLS HIS 1849 STORY
/THIS STORY is an account written by William H. Minchin (1839-1914) of his life and struggle to become a school teacher, revealing how very difficult it was for immigrants to start a new life for themselves in Canada in the 1800's.
But really the story begins with his mother, JANE GLADNEY MINCHIN , (1807-1900), a brave and hardworking woman, who faced the eight week journey across the ocean with her husband, Daniel Minchin and five children, only to be left a widow, upon her arrival in Marmora, destitute and depending on relatives.
By the time William Minchin's family had arrived in Marmora, Jane's father, William Gladney (1780-1851) was well established as a merchant here, had married his second wife, Elizabeth Hampton, and produced a second Gladney family, who were the ancestors of the well known Gladneys that built 65 Forsyth Street, Marmora.