The Child Letters: Public and Private Life in a Canadian Merchant-Politician's Family, 1841-1845

John D. Blackwell is co-ordinator of information services, Arthur A.
Wishart Library, Algoma University College, Sault Ste. Marie.

This handsomely produced volume of letters, along with Little’s
admirable introduction, reveals much about middle-class village family
life in the Eastern Townships of Quebec during the early 1840s.

Marcus Child (1792–1859) was born in Massachusetts but in 1812 moved
to the English-speaking border town of Stanstead. He profited from
smuggling during the War of 1812 and became prominent as a local
merchant and officeholder. From 1829 to 1851, he served almost
continuously as a reform backbencher in the Quebec legislative assembly
and afterwards in the united assembly.

The 91 letters in this collection were written by Child and his
immediate family during his sojourns at the assembly in Kingston. The
articulate letters of Child, his wife, Lydia Chadwick (1795–1878), and
their daughter, Elizabeth, contrast sharply with the maladroit but
equally evocative communications of their son, George. The letters offer
a rich commentary on many segments of society. At one point, for
instance, Child observes that “truly glad was I to get rid of the
noise and confusion and brutal violence of upper [sic] Canada
Toryism—I am disgusted with the coarse and ill bred habits of their
people, and were we, in Lower Canada, to be compelled to adopt them, by
the union; I would, for one, say let us immediately separate.”

Little includes photographs, maps, a chronology, and a list of
characters, all of which provide valuable reference points for the
reader. In his 36-page introduction, Little contextualizes the Child
family within the framework of recent historical writing, deftly
exploring the thematical interplay of commerce, politics, and family.
The only disappointing aspect of the volume is the inadequate three-page
index. Had it been expanded even to fill up the three blank pages at the
end of the book, readers would have had a much more useful access tool.
As it is, a host of names and subjects is overlooked. Nonetheless, The
Child Letters is a first-rate addition to the historiography of this
period.