The textbook definition of ‘migrate’ is the movement of people away from their usual place of residence to a new place of residence or the movement of a person or people from one country, locality, place of residence, etc., to settle in another.

I believe I would be safe to say that pretty much everyone has ancestors that have migrated from one country to another – they emigrated from one country and immigrated to another.

There are several in our family line that I can choose from as I can honestly say everyone in my paternal line has emigrated from Great Britain. It was difficult to choose just one, so I chose one that is the furthest back whose information I was able to obtain.

Thomas Henry Matthew (3x great-grandfather) – emigrated from Great Britain via Liverpool, England on June 3, 1874, arriving in Canada via Quebec, Quebec on June 18, 1874.

Thomas was born March 13, 1838, in Porthleven, Sithney, Cornwall, England to Thomas and Ann Matthew (née Thomas).

Thomas married Emma Jane Matthew (yes, that’s correct but that’s another story) July 30, 1862, in Breage, Cornwall, England.

Before leaving their home country, Thomas and Emma had three children – Alfred (my 2x great-grandfather), Sydney and Laura.

In 1871, England census places the family in St Mawes, St Just, Truro, Cornwall. So, we’re going to assume that’s where they travelled from to get to Liverpool (approximately 350 miles) and catch a boat to Canada! We’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s back up a bit.

As mentioned, the 1871 England Census places them in St. Mawes which isn’t too far from where they were married in Breage, and where Thomas was born in Porthleven.

In 1874, they made the decision to migrate across the ocean, far from their families, to start a new life in Canada. We can only speculate what their life was like in their home country, but it could not have been an easy decision and would have probably taken a long time to make it. Plus, the cost may have been a huge factor in the amount of time it took to prepare, and then the trip to get to the port where they would ship out. In today’s world, travelling from St. Mawes to Liverpool would take just a little over 6 hours. Factor in three young children (6, 4 & 2), I’m sure you can see how hard it must have been.

Thomas and his family left England from Liverpool on June 3, 1874, aboard the SS Ontario.

Let’s take a moment and take a closer look at the SS Ontario. The ship was built by A. McMillan & Son in Dumbarton, Australia. It was completed in 1874; dimensions were 335.7 x 38.4 ft and weighed (the tonnage) 3,175 gross. The ship was owned and operated by Mississippi and Dominion Steamship Co., and the passage booking was advertised under ‘Dominion Line’.  Interesting enough, Thomas and his family may have been on the inaugural Atlantic crossing with passengers of the SS Ontario! The passenger list notes A. French as the master.

The voyage took 15 days with Thomas, Emma and the three children arriving in Quebec, Quebec, Canada, on June 18, 1974.

Here’s another interesting fact: Emma was pregnant with their fourth child when they left home – their daughter, Charity Jane (“Jennie”) was born December 30, 1874, in Brighton, Northumberland County, Ontario. What that tells us, the family travelled even more after their sea voyage from Quebec City to Brighton which is approximately 660 miles.

From reviewing the Canada Census records for 1881 and 1891, they stayed in the same area. The 1901 census shows Thomas, Emma, and two of their children (adults) in Victoria, BC. Somewhere between 1891 and 1901, they moved from Ontario to Victoria.

After doing some more research, I was able to find some wonderful information! Tom and Emma did move to Victoria in 1891. I found this information on the Victoria Heritage Foundation website:

1460 Gladstone, Victoria, BC: 1891-1928: Carpenter, joiner and builder Thomas Henry Matthew (1840-1928) and Emma Jane (née Matthew, 1843-1923) were born in Cornwall, England. They married there in 1862 and came to Ontario in the mid-1870s where Tom operated a lumber mill. They moved to Victoria in 1891, bought this property and built the house. Their sons Alfred Henry Poltaire and Sydney Edwin were also carpenters and helped build the house. Alfred became a miller for The Brackman-Ker Milling Co (1004 Catherine St, Vic West). The Matthew daughters all married in this house: Laura Annie worked as a milliner at Spencer’s Arcade until 1897, when she married builder Aaron Parfitt (1421 Grant St, Fernwood). Charity Jane “Jennie” married bricklayer Herbert Knott (1466 Gladstone Av) in 1898. Rosina Georgina “Rose” married music salesman Alfred Huxtable in 1901 (1422 Fernwood Rd, Fernwood). Tom and Emma marked their 60th anniversary in 1922 at their summer home, 296 Beach Dr. Emma was a strong churchwoman, first with Metropolitan Methodist Church and then Belmont Methodist. She was a life member of Sherwood Auxiliary, Women’s Missionary Society. Tom taught the Adult Bible Class for decades.⁶

As far as I can tell, the house is still standing today – might be a great road trip! Tom and Emma lived in their home until their passings, Emma in 1923 and Tom in 1928.

This is just one story of an ancestor who came from their home in St. Mawes in England to a new home in Victoria, BC, with a couple of stops along the way.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to move from one country to another in 1874 with communication being so difficult having just written letters back and forth, and taking just as long, if not longer, to cross the ocean by ship. In today’s world, moving would be a little easier to manage as communication with family and friends is much more accessible.

Thank you to Thomas Henry Matthew for having the courage to move his family to a foreign country and make their new home.

1. Source: General Register Office of the United Kingdom ↩︎
2. Source: “England, Devon and Cornwall Marriages, 1660-1912,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGY9-HJSD : 24 April 2019), Thomas Henry Matthew, Bachelor, 22 May 1862; citing Marriage, St Breage, Cornwall, England, the Devon Record Office, Exeter. ↩︎
3. Source: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File: A map of England and Wales for the complete history of England (BM 1874,1010.74).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:A_map_of_England_and_Wales_for_the_complete_history_of_England_(BM_1874,1010.74).jpg&oldid=1003374421 (accessed March 7, 2025). ↩︎
4. Source: https://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=ontar ↩︎
5. Source: Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Series: RG 76-C; Roll: C-4528 ↩︎
6. Source: https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fernwood/Gladstone1460.html ↩︎