Readers of The Orkney News have been enjoying finding out about Orkney’s links with Canada in Kim Twatt’s account of rediscovering her distant cousins: Full Circle: An Orkney family reunited after 200 years separated by distance and culture ( Final Part)
Migration from Orkney for employment and a chance for better paid work continued throughout the 18th, 19th and into the 20th century. In Canada many surnames reflect their connections with Orkney.
For most, life was extremely difficult but they did so to send money back to those they had left behind. Some of those workers would return, but many did not.
Some of the Orcadian migrants remained and produced the next generation:
John Norquay (1841 – 1889) Born St Andrews, Red River Colony
John Norquay was Premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. Norquay came from an Orcadian-Métis ethnic background. Norquay devoted much of his attention to railway development. As a result, he was compelled to walk a thin line between local and federal alliances; eventually, his inability to successfully navigate this course led to his downfall. In 1904, Mount Norquay in Banff National Park was named after him.
William Corston Watt Garson ( 1856 – 1911). Born Kirkwall
William Garson Represented Lincoln in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal member from 1886 to 1890. Emigrated to St. Catharines, Canada West with his family in 1857. He served as a captain in the local militia. Garson was trained as a mason and became a construction contractor. In 1895, he married Margaret Annable. Garson moved to Winnipeg in 1901 where he served on the Board of Control and helped establish the city’s publicly owned hydroelectric system. He helped develop limestone quarries near Tyndall, the source of the Tyndall Stone later used in the construction of the provincial parliament buildings and the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Stuart Sinclair Garson (1898 -1977) Born St Catherine’s Ontario – son of William Garson
Stuart Garson served as Premiere of Manitoba from 1943 to 1948. In this role he began a program of rapid rural electrification, and made some effort to service the needs of returning soldiers after World War II. He rejected demands from the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to introduce programs in public housing and old-age pensions.
On November 15, 1948, Garson was sworn in as Minister of Justice and Attorney General; he was elected to the federal parliament in a by-election for the rural seat of Marquette the next month. For the next nine years, Garson would be the dominant cabinet minister from Manitoba in St. Laurent’s government. He also served as Solicitor General of Canada from August 7, 1950, to October 14, 1952.
Andrew Grahame Balenden (1829 -1889) Born South Ronaldsay
At age 14 Bannatyne (note his change of name) entered the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company as an apprentice clerk, and was sent to Sault Ste Marie Ontario for two years, and then to Red River Manitoba. He became a very successful businessman in his own right.
In 1869-70 an uprising took place, The Red River Rebellion (French: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge). The area (known as Rupert’s Land) had been owned by the Hudson Bay Company but was sold to the Canadian Government. The resistance eventually led to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Colony. Bannatyne played an important role in the events not least in his attempt to bridge the gap of fear and apprehension between each side. In 1870 Bannatyne agreed to become postmaster in Riel’s provisional government.
Bannatyne Avenue in Winnipeg is named after him.
William Bain Scarth (1837 – 1902) Born Aberdeen.
William Bain Scarth was secretary and manager of the ‘Townsite Trustees’ , a corporation owned jointly by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was also President of the Canada North West Land Company. He founded the North British Canadian Investment Company (1876) and The Scottish Ontario and Manitoba Land Company (1879). A member of the Dominion parliament for Winnipeg and federal deputy minister for agriculture.
Fiona Grahame