John Daniel Frederick Busch
Germany-
On May 2, 1792, the 49 ton brigantine Catharina with 134 passengers on board left the Danish port city of Altona (now a district of Hamburg, Germany)
and set sail for the North American continent. It was picking up the remaining passengers for a voyage that started out of Hamburg, Germany but really began
eight months earlier in Britain.
| On September 8, 1791, William Berczy, a German born artist, signed an agreement with a group of British
land speculators to form the
Genesee Association, a company that would procure settlers for a tract of land that they owned west of Philadelphia. “The contract
offered prospective emigrants
small farms of 25 acres which would be operated on a ‘share crop’ basis for six years.”
[1]
After farming for six years each tenant would be entitled to buy the land at a reduced market price. Among those who signed on with Berczy were two young Prussians, the Busch brothers Friedrich and Wilhelm.
[2] Johann Daniel Friedrich Busch was born near Lagendorf in the Prussian province of Brandenburg on August 16, 1773; his older brother Johann Christian Wilhelm was born February 4, 1767. Their parents were Joachim Wilhelm & Christina Elizabeth Busch. [3] Friedrich and Wilhelm would leave their hometown and travel 400 kilometers north to Hamburg and the port city of Altona to join with William Berczy’s association to emigrate to North America. |  |
| Berczy had hired two ships, the Catharina and the Heinrich and Georg, to transport the prospective settlers to North America, but he soon found himself in trouble with the German government. Emigration by individuals was allowed, but the organized emigration of large groups of people had been prohibited by the Senate of Hamburg since 1753. People were easy prey for unscrupulous emigration agents who “sold” them by the shipload to various traders; those who survived the voyages ended up as indentured servants in America. |  |
|
| Riverside view of Altona |
A third ship was set up as a decoy flying the American flag. While it was being inspected by the Prussian Ambassador (looking for illegal emigrants), the fully loaded Catharina, under the Danish flag, left the harbour of Hamburg and sailed for Altona. By the time the Hamburg Senate had finally decided to deal with the matter by renewing their mandate against emigration dealers, Friedrich and Wilhelm, along with their fellow passengers on board Catharina, were sailing through the English Channel on their way to begin a new life in the wilderness settlements of North America.[4]
On board the Catharina were the single men and women, along with married couples and children. In his book, William Berczy Co-founder of Toronto, John Andre describes the adventure of the ocean crossing:
except for the seasick who were consoled with special refreshments by Mrs.Berczy… The ship was scrubbed and fumigated with juniper berries and vinegar twice weekly and passengers were ordered to stay on deck as long as possible…
Provisions for four months had been packed in the hold … such as salted pork and beef, peas, barley, sauerkraut, cheese, butter and biscuits. Beer, tea and water ended the list to which were added some fresh fish caught from the ocean… The gentle weather and the breeze gusting from the right direction seemed to promise a pleasant and reasonably short voyage. Her sails bulged, the little ship advanced “like an arrow” and reached the ocean proper in six days… The passengers were kept busy with games and labour,
The first bad omen came with the hot weather which turned the beer sour. The sun, which a few days earlier had mildly warmed the air, now converted the area below the deck into an oven… Meanwhile, the Catharina stood still, her sails limp. There was not even a slight breeze to ruffle her canvas because Captain Trautmann had apparently steered the ship too far south… The heat had made the barrels containing fresh water leaky… [The foreman], Helmke discovered a hollow sound in all but one of the supposedly full containers. Berczy… ordered the Captain to change course at once and head northwards. Upon Trautmann’s refusal, our calm hero, like a born general, took out his watch and granted the stubborn navigator exactly ten minutes. If he did not follow his instructions in the allotted time, he would be locked up and Berczy would take command of the ship. After ten minutes of cursing and threatening, the Captain surrendered. As if by the will of the Almighty, Catharina’s sails billowed with wind again as they approached the coast of New England… After six hours of hoping and watching, the cry of “land!” came from the youngster atop the mast… Catharina was nearing the coast of Newport, Rhode Island.
On July 28, 1792, [the] Catharina arrived in Philadelphia and the settlers officially left the ship which had been their crowded home for thirteen weeks, on August 3.[5]
America-
From Philadelphia, in twelve covered wagons, they headed for Northumberland, Pennsylvania. From there they would have to build a road to the settlement area
in the Genesee Tract in western New York state. They would have to carve a road, passable for their wagons, through virgin forest and, what would prove to
be even more difficult, partly along the slopes of the Allegheny Mountains. One difficult stretch of only a few miles took several weeks to complete. The road
that they built is now part of the Susquehanna Trail.[6]
Captain Charles Williamson had recently founded the village of Williamsburg in the Genesee, and he, along with some axemen, arrived to assist the settlers in
building the remainder of the road (after the most difficult part had been done). He, like Berczy, had been contracted to bring settlers to the area—in his
case Highland Scots. Berczy maintained that he had “exclusive right” to settle 110,000 acres of land in the Genesee.[7]
Williamson insisted that this exclusive right had expired and claimed the land for himself. He tried to break up Berczy’s settlers in order to get more people
for his land and eventually succeeded in getting four families to go to one of his settlements. Berczy finally managed to get some land for his German settlers,
and after Christmas, 1792, they “moved out in groups of six to build their little cabins in two villages.”[8] This included
houses for the bachelors and artisans. The houses were 24 by 16 feet and had the luxury of wooden floors. One of the Busches was listed as
an “ordinary baker” at this settlement.[9]
But the settlement here was not a peaceful one. After threats from Williamson, the sheriff, acting under Williamson’s direction, arrested some of the settlers.
Court action by Berczy resulted in their release, but he realised that his Germans would have to find another place to settle. In 1792, Lieutenant Governor John
Graves Simcoe had distributed in the United States a proclamation concerning free grants of land to prospective settlers in Upper Canada. Simcoe wanted to settle
the “huge territory west of Kingston” that settlers from Britain considered to be “too far out of the way.”[10] Meetings
between Simcoe’s representatives and Berczy resulted in agreements to acquire land suitable for his settlers: 64,000 acres “in back of York [Toronto]” called
Markham Township.[11]
Williamson’s magistrate had prohibited the settlers from leaving the area and had the Sheriff’s men patrolling the lakeshore. Berczy already had boats, barges
and wagons ready, waiting for his orders. In the early morning hours of April 15, 1794, Berczy, along with three assistants, crossed the Genesee River at
Hartford and followed an Indian path through the wilderness. They reached the Queenston Ferry in Niagara, Upper Canada the next day. “Berczy reinforced his
little flotilla by hiring fifteen boats at Niagara, each manned by three armed oarsmen. Twenty-five young settlers obtained guns and Joseph Brant supplied over
a dozen braves.”[12] Berczy’s plan worked: the Indians, some armed oarsmen and some of the sturdier peasants split into
groups to divert the sheriff and cover the retreat of the women and children (along with their baggage) to Irondoquoit Bay where boats were waiting for them.
The men made their way overland to Queenston; the flotilla arrived there “between the 20th and 25th of June, 1794.”[13]
Of the original group of prospective settlers that left Germany with Berczy just over two years before, 220 or about three-quarters of them, including the Busch
brothers, had made it this far.[14] By the end of August, all the healthy men along with 16 hired axemen from Niagara
moved to York.
York & Markham-
The site which would become the York settlement and later the city of Toronto was described in one report that in 1793 the spot contained “only one solitary
Indian Wigwam.”[15]
On September 6, 1794, Abraham Iredell was ordered by the German Company (as Berczy’s association at York was called) to lay out the concessions with 200 acre
lots in Markham. The settlers had to live in York temporarily and the Busch brothers found work there as bakers at the German Company office. By November, a
partial survey was completed and the settlers made roads to and within Markham; they would now be able to determine the location of their
lots.[16] Frederick and William (their names now anglicized) were granted lots 13 and 14 respectively on the fifth
concession.[17]
It was not until the winter of 1794-5 that they finally established themselves on their own land in Markham. One of the Busches is listed among a group of
men who helped bring up the rest of the provisions from York that would be needed to hold them through the winter. In January, barrels of pork, flour, salmon,
salt, rum, mill irons, nails, etc. along with the settlers' baggage were transported by sleigh to Markham. Their oxen had to haul two dozen loads, weighing
800 to 900 pounds each, up the hills of Young Street in trips that would take at least a day.[18]
The crops failed in the first full year of settlement, 1795, and the settlers were reduced to “meagre rations of potatoes and
turnips.”[19] Dozens of the settlers in Markham searched for food and work in York, but the only work available
was cutting cordwood. Berczy used his houses and mills as bond to borrow meat, peas and rice from the army warehouse. He again “had to buy thread to mend
the rags of the settlers” with his own money.[20] The famine resulting from the crop failure devastated the settlement
of York-Markham in that winter of ’95-’96; a few died and about one-third of the people moved back to Niagara.
It was probably around this time that William Busch died since his name is absent from the 1797 census. His death may have been caused by the toil of clearing
roads, the harsh living conditions or the recent outbreak of malaria with which Berczy himself became afflicted. Of heads of families alone, ten (including
William) had died before 1804. Frederick inherited his brother’s land.[21]
Despite being owners of large areas of land, perhaps it was too much to expect bakers (who had probably lived in a town or village) to become pioneer farmers.
Frederick was invited by Secretary John Small to open a bakery in York.[22] He petitioned for a town lot in York on
January 2, 1798 for the purpose of setting up the baking business and was granted one that same year.[23]
He was now an established businessman in York and the owner of 400 acres of property in Markham. After having spent the past six years in temporary settlements
that only lasted a few weeks or months—Philadelphia, Northumberland, Williamsburg, Queenston—Frederick now had what looked like a permanent home in his new
country. Yet he probably left York in late 1798 or early 1799.[24] Why would he leave everything to start anew in another
settlement?
One answer may be, as John Andre speculates in his history of Toronto, that the bachelors who left Markham permanently may have done so “because of the lack of
prospective brides in ‘the rear of Toronto.’”[25] So, off he went to the chief settlement in Upper Canada: Kingston.
Kingston-
The young settlement of Kingston, the “largest town in Upper Canada”, to which Frederick arrived had only been laid out in 1783 and had a population of around
500.[26] In April, 1800, Frederick petitioned for a town lot. Leading citizens of Kingston certified him to be “an
industrious tradesman and a quiet peaceable inhabitant.”[27] Frederick stated that he had resided in Upper Canada for
at least 6 years and the petition was approved in February 1801.[28] In the same year, he joined the Masonic lodge in
Kingston and over the next few years he held prominent positions, being twice elected to the position of a principal officer (J.W. & W.M.). When a loan from
the lodge was requested by him it “was unanimously granted by show of hands.”[29] He may have wanted the money to help
start up his bakery business on one of the two lots he received on Queen and Barrack Streets.[30] He later sold these
and moved to a new location on what is now Brock Street between Wellington and King.
It is in the records for the sale of his property that his name first appears as John Daniel Frederick.[31]
Frederick married Phoebe Mosher (Mosier) and together they had eleven children, seven girls: Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Christina, Mary Isabella, Jane and Esther
Ann, and four boys: John William, John Henry, Frederick and George.
In 1807 Phoebe received a grant of 200 acres of land in Loughborough Township for
being a child of a United Empire Loyalist, Lewis Mosher.[32]
(He was married to Mary Freeman who was the daughter of John Freeman of Freeman’s Farm,
site of a decisive battle during the American Revolutionary
War).[33]
Phoebe’s land grant also indicates that Frederick Busch’s occupation is a baker.
In that year Frederick sold the lot he had originally been allocated in Markham Township
but retained the one he inherited from his brother, William.[34]
Despite being a young settlement, Kingston was not an untamed frontier town: there
was a local militia to maintain law and order and till 1824 there were stocks and a
whipping post in the Market Square. The local regulations even extending to the proper
installation of stove pipes within dwellings and, being a baker, Frederick would have
certainly been affected by laws enacted to regulate the weight and price of bread.[35]
One of the petitions that Frederick signed was a refusal to further accept for
payment a particular coin, the “Brock copper,” that was then in circulation. Apparently
there were excessive numbers of these as well as other copper coins and some people
would not accept large numbers of them as payment. The petition describes a typical
situation that would have directly affected him: when “the poor day labourer… goes
with them to the baker to solicit from him a little bread… to relieve the hunger of
his family; he there meets with a positive denial, (for the baker cannot buy flour
with coppers).”[36]
In 1806 and 1807, Frederick served four times on a jury. The cases involved: an attempt
to persuade a soldier to desert, the stealing of two watches, grand larceny, and a
misdemeanour.[37] With each trial served, Frederick rose
in position on the jury, from 12th (i.e., last) to 2nd place. This may have been an
indication of his competence as a juror and may have benefited him when seeking public office.
In 1809, Frederick was elected a constable for the Crown in Kingston.[38]
By 1817, Kingston was a well established settlement with a population of 2,250 and
450 houses. There were three churches, a theatre, a public library, sixty-seven shops and
a newspaper.[39]
It was probably around the years 1818-19 that Frederick and his family moved to Wolfe
Island. His son, John (whether it was Henry or William is not clear), stated in court
testimony in March of 1864 that he had lived on Wolfe Island for about 45 or 46 years.[40]
In 1820 Frederick sold the lot in Markham Township he had inherited from his brother.[41]
By early 1822 another baker had set up a business at Frederick’s house on Market (Brock) St. and he
sold that lot in 1823.[42]
Wolfe Island-
Wolfe Island was first settled just before the turn of the 18th century by 15 families
brought there by the owners of the island who purchased it in 1795. Among that group were
three sons of Lewis Mosher, father of Phoebe.[43]
Settlement increased in the 1820s and 30s, and by 1826 the population was 276. The island
was covered with forest so it is not surprising that the typical house was a log cabin.
Most settlers leased their land because they were too poor to buy.[44]
In January, 1825 Frederick was elected a Road Master on the island.[45]
Other than being elected Road Master, there is no other record concerning Frederick Busch
on Wolfe Island, of his occupation or where he lived.
Their daughter, Elizabeth,[46]
who was married to Jacob Smith, drowned off Wolfe Island, as reported in The Kingston
Chronicle:
Melancholy Accident.- We are sorry to learn that on Wednesday afternoon last [February 28, 1827], Mrs. Jacob SMITH, of [Wolfe] Island, and her daughter, a child of two years old, were drowned under the following circumstances:- It appears that Mr. Smith was about changing his residence to a place three miles further up the Island: and on the afternoon of Wednesday, Mrs. Smith, her two children, and her brother [John William Busch], proceeded on the ice in a sleigh, which contained several articles of furniture, to the new residence. In passing along the Batteau channel they came to bad ice, which giving way, the horses and sleigh got into the water; but Mrs. Smith succeeded in getting out with her children. She did not proceed far, however, when the ice gave way under her, and she and her little daughter sunk to rise no more. [Busch], who ran to the assistance of his sister, with great difficulty was able to save one of the children, a little boy, who, we understand, is doing well. Mrs. Smith was daughter of Mr.Frederick [Busch], of [Wolfe] Island; was about 26 years of age, and at the time of her death far advanced in pregnancy.[47]
Hannah married George Horne of Simcoe Island on April 13, 1826.[48]
John William married Margaret Bennett on November 29, 1831; she died May 20, 1832 and is buried on Wolfe Island.
At that time, the death of women shortly after marriage was often a result of complications in pregnancy or childbirth, which may have been the case for Margaret Bennett; but there is another possible cause. In both 1832 and 1834 there were severe visitations of Asiatic cholera in Canada. “In 1834, out of a population of 5,000 there were 300 deaths” in Kingston from it.[49]
John Henry married Arabella Hinckley July 5, 1831 (who died, June 13, 1843); his second marriage was to Sarah Anne Ellerbeck, February 28, 1844.[50]
Christina married Jeremiah Orser, July 3, 1831.[51]
Mary Isabella married George Snider.[52]
Frederick Jr. married Julia Turcotte, August 10, 1841; he later married Jane Anne Eves, November 21, 1865.
Jane married Gabriel Orser, June 23, 1841.[53]
George (my great-great grandfather) married Frances Eves (sister of Jane Ann, above) and they lived on Wolfe Island.
Esther Ann married Samuel Mosher, her first cousin. His father was Nicholas Mosher, Phoebe’s brother.[54]
There is no record of the death of John Daniel Frederick, but he probably died between 1842 and 1851. His signature appears on a petition dated September 26, 1842, and he does not appear on the 1851 census whereas Phoebe does living with Frederick Jr. and family.[55]
Phoebe died on March 29, 1854 and was buried in the Trinity Anglican Cemetery on Wolfe Island.[56]
It is interesting that there is so much public information on Frederick Busch. This was a time when average citizens (many of them illiterate) would leave few records of the events in their lives. His involvment in the settlement of York and Markham with William Berczy is responsible for so much being known of the life of one illiterate immigrant baker. Other references found in public records resulted from him establishing himself as a businessman and being involved in public affairs: a Constable, Freemason, Roadmaster, frequent juror, and signatory to many published petitions relating to public matters. It helped being among a small population and having newspapers that reported so much on local events.
In an entry in the 1871 census for Wolfe Island (according to Susan MacDonald), Frederick’s son, John Busch, under the section for ancestry, wrote “Prushen” and then crossed it out and wrote “English.”[57] (John Busch may have changed the spelling of his last name to "Bush.")[58]
