In 1837, my great-great grandfather Joseph Watson lived in Lloydtown, a village west of Toronto that was founded by a Quaker named Jesse Lloyd and included a number of Quaker families in its population. Joseph was the Postmaster in the town. There was considerable civil unrest in Canada at this time, prompted by feelings that the colonial government was not responsive to the needs of the populace. Jesse Lloyd was a vocal leader of the opposition movement and Joseph was one of many Lloydtown residents who joined in. He lost his position as Postmaster because of his radical sympathies. This unrest culminated in the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838 – a series of uprisings in both Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario). In December, 1837, a group of dissidents marched on Toronto, hoping to take possession of the city and remove the colonial government from power.
It was a fairly half-hearted rebellion. The leaders of the dissidents had no training or talent for organizing a military campaign. The march on Toronto collapsed fairly quickly when faced with opposition. At one point the men from Lloydtown, who had actually had a bit of training, encountered a group of pickets along the main road into Toronto. The front rank exchanged a volley and, remembering their training, dropped to the ground to allow the second rank to fire over their heads while they reloaded. Unfortunately the second rank forgot about that part of their training and, thinking the entire front rank had been shot dead, turned and ran. (No word on whether Joseph was in the first rank or the second.)
Joseph was among the several hundred dissidents who were rounded up and jailed after the rebellion. He was sentenced to a term of three years on the charge of treason, and actually served 19 months. The prisoners held in the jail in Toronto were crowded and bored and they started carving little decorative boxes out of the firewood they were given to heat the rooms. (It must be noted that it’s a pretty benign prison where the inmates have carving knives.) Those boxes are now collectors’ items, and there are two carved by Joseph. Here's the one I have:
