Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst: Everyday Life in Upper Canada, 1812-1814

by Dorothy Duncan

Overview

An examination of Upper Canadian life at the dawn of a modern nation.

Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst explores the web of human relationships that developed in Upper Canada following the American Revolution, in the years leading up to the War of 1812, and during the conflict that raged for two years between the young United States and Britain, its former master. The book focuses on the families, homes, gardens, farms, roads, villages, towns, shops, and fabric of everyday life in this frontier society.

Upper Canada was a land in transition as First Nations, fur traders, Loyalists, entrepreneurs, merchants, farmers, and newcomers from every walk of life formed alliances and partnerships based on friendship, marriage, respect, religion, proximity, and the desire to survive and prosper. With the declaration of war in June 1812, Upper Canadians realized that not only their lives but their future peace and prosperity were threatened. They responded with perseverance, loyalty, and unexpected acts of bravery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459705944
Publisher:	Dundurn Press
Publication date:	05/26/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	561 KB

About the Author

Dorothy Duncan has worked with organizations around the world to ensure that Canada's culinary history is recognized, researched, and recorded. Nothing More Comforting: Canada's Heritage Food was published in 2003 and was followed by Feasting and Fasting: Canada's Heritage Celebrations. Canadians at Table: Food, Fellowship, and Folklore, a Culinary History of Canada won the Cuisine Canada and University of Guelph Culinary Book Gold Award. Dorothy lives in Orillia, Ontario.

Dorothy Duncan has worked with organizations across Canada and around the world to ensure that Canada's culinary history is recognized, researched, and recorded. In 2007 her book Canadians at Table won the Cuisine Canada and University of Guelph Culinary Book Gold Award. She lives in Orillia, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 Loyalists

2 First Nations

3 Fur Trade

4 Elizabeth Simcoe

5 In the Shelter of the Fort

6 When the journey’s over

7 Peace Be to This House and All That Dwell in It
8 We Plough the Fields and Scatter the Good Grain on the Land

9 When one door shuts another opens
10 Knowledge Is Power

11 Desperate Diseases Must Have Desperate Remedies
12 Happy Memories Were Made at the Dinner Table

13 Letter to Sister
14 The First Blow Is Half the Battle

15 I Have a Large Bag on the Pommel of My Saddle Containing Some Necessary Articles

16 Deeds Speak

17 Letter to Sister 2

18 Fortune Assists the Brave

19 Letter to Sister 3

20 Joseph Willcocks

21 When Things Are at the Worst They Begin to Mend
22 Letter to Sister 4

Afterword: The Peace of Christmas Eve 1814

Editorial Reviews

Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst is an excellent introduction for 'first timers' ... It is worth reading.

From the Publisher