Restoration of the Daverne Journal Sheds New Light on its Author

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CCI Newsletter, No. 36, Fall 2005

Restoration of the Daverne Journal Sheds New Light on its Author

by Clark and Bridget Theobald 1

Daverne Farm, Adolphustown, Ontario, site of the original 1815 farm bought by Daniel Daverne. The farm is currently home to Gerry Daverne (a descendent of Daniel's brother Richard Daverne Jr.) and his wife Jutta. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

Daverne Farm, Adolphustown, Ontario, site of the original 1815 farm bought by Daniel Daverne. The farm is currently home to Gerry Daverne (a descendent of Daniel's brother Richard Daverne Jr.) and his wife Jutta. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

Roberta Partridge (left) from CCI, Teresa Phillips, and Fred Ladly look over the newly restored Daverne Journal at a meeting of the Perth Historical Society in April 2005. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

Roberta Partridge (left) from CCI, Teresa Phillips, and Fred Ladly look over the newly restored Daverne Journal at a meeting of the Perth Historical Society in April 2005. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

New findings about Daniel Joseph Daverne were enthusiastically received by members of the Perth Historical Society at a meeting in April 2005. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

New findings about Daniel Joseph Daverne were enthusiastically received by members of the Perth Historical Society at a meeting in April 2005. Photo courtesy of Bridget Theobald.

The restoration of the Perth Military Entry Book (1815-1818) by CCI and its return to the Perth Museum in Perth, Ontario, in late 2004 prompted a serious and continuing re-evaluation of the settlement's controversial first secretary / storekeeper / postmaster / acting superintendent, Daniel Joseph Daverne.

The Entry Book consists mostly of official letters by Daverne to assorted correspondents — his superiors, managers and employees of the various departments that reported to him, and clients. The impressions we (the authors) were left with after completing the transcription of this Entry Book in early 2005 led us to question the nearly two centuries old characterization of Daverne as a scoundrel who was corrupt, sinister, universally despised, and unceremoniously "run-out-of-town"!

Based on this Entry Book, Daverne appeared unmercifully caught between two conflicting forces. On the one hand, he had to stay within his strictly defined middleman role, imposed by his distant, unbending, status-seeking political masters in York and Quebec. On the other hand, he faced the harsh realities of daily balancing the discordant demands of unruly discharged soldiers and discontented assisted Scottish immigrants (most of whom were quite unprepared and unsuited for survival in a Canadian wilderness), a snobbish local elite of half-pay officers (no doubt contemptuous of a lowly Irish Catholic public servant), and incompetent, indifferent, or lazy hired help (surveyors, teamsters, and settlement employees).

Daverne's letters consistently and passionately reveal an understanding of and sympathy for the plight of many of those first Perth settlers who, through no fault of their own, barely avoided mass starvation in 1817 and 1818. Daverne petitioned frequently for a relaxation of the rules, which were imposed from above, and for extra support and programs to assist those deemed "disadvantaged".

A little more than a year after this Entry Book was filled, Daverne was forced out of Perth and Canada. His career ended ignominiously following an internal investigation of his office finances, which supposedly revealed a large unauthorized deficit in settlement accounts. Long-time critics rejoiced in his disgrace; later accounts of alleged nefarious criminal and immoral activities by Daverne across the border further blackened his reputation. Accusations of corruption and extortion against Daverne were propagated and repeated for generations in official circles. From a scholarly perspective, these views went unchallenged for nearly 200 years2 until the public release of this 1815-1818 Entry Book in 2005.

To resolve the contradictions raised by CCI's restoration efforts, we conducted independent research into primary documents at Library and Archives Canada, Queen's University Archives, the Archives of Ontario, and the Lennox and Addington County Museum and Archives. Our recent findings strongly suggest that, although Daniel Daverne was at times resentful of the often irreconcilable pressures of his office and frustrated by the lack of appreciation for his efforts, he was a victim of a conspiracy by certain of his superiors to remove an obviously controversial employee. Motives for such plotting, according to Daverne and other contemporaries, were based on racial discrimination, a petty desire for personal revenge, and a hasty cover-up of a much larger scheme of systematic abuse of Crown land distribution.

Daniel's actual life following his "escape" from Perth in 1819 bore little resemblance to the stories circulated by his detractors. Through an investigation of private papers held by his descendents today, it was apparent that Daniel and his brother Richard devoted much of the rest of their lives to fruitless campaigns to recover Daniel's extensive lands in and around Perth which had been confiscated as a result of the Duke of Richmond's (Commander of the Forces) orders in 1819. The brothers produced evidence that Daniel's accounts with the British Treasury had been resolved, and submitted numerous character references from highly placed individuals connected with the Perth Military Settlement. Over the decades, they were able to secure the support of such national luminaries as Robert Baldwin, Richard Cartwright, and John A. Macdonald. However, despite these numerous petitions, legal and political representations, the British authorities were unmoved.

These findings were enthusiastically received at the April meeting of the Perth Historical Society where two representatives from CCI, Roberta Partridge and Ed Kulka, outlined their restoration methods in relation to the 1815 Entry Book. Other speakers included Susan Code, author and historian; and Gerry Daverne, a direct descendent of the Daverne brothers who had been brought up with stories of the injustice perpetrated against Daniel Daverne in 1819.

This Daverne research was also shared at a July meeting of the Lanark County Genealogical Society in Perth, and at the time this article was completed (August 2005), it was scheduled to be presented at a second Perth Historical Society gathering in October at which Daniel was to be given the public trial that he never received in his lifetime, and at a November meeting of the Lennox and Addington Historical Society in Napanee, Ontario. Publication of the complete Daniel Daverne findings is anticipated in 2006.

All these developments arose from the restoration efforts of CCI, which followed a request for assistance from the Perth Museum. Everyone associated with the Perth Museum and the Perth Historical Society is grateful for CCI's impressive contribution.

  1. Clark Theobald, Honours B.A. (History), is a retired teacher and Member of the Perth Museum Board. His daughter Bridget is a Research Assistant.

  2. See Susan Code's A Matter of Honour (Burnstown, ON: General Store Publishing House, 1996) and Larry Turner's Perth: Tradition and Style in Eastern Ontario (Toronto, ON: Natural Heritage/Natural History Incorporated, 1992).