Daniel O. Hutcheson, age 4, his 9 year old brother David and his mother Mary Campbell Hutcheson sailed for Canada from Ireland 7 Jan. 1825.*
Mary's husband, Daniel Hutcheson age 29, had died at Ulster the previous year from typhoid leaving her two young children fatherless.
Daniel grew up in the community of Brighton, Newcastle District Canada where many of its modest population of 250 were also Irish immigrants. At age 22 after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter; and, seeing limited opportunity in Brighton, Daniel struck out for the burgeoning American frontier, starting in Detroit.
For the next 20 years Daniel labored as a seasonal migrant worker, loading and unloading boats, working as a deck-hand on timber boats in the summer months and taking on carpentry and caulking boats in winter. He worked at timbering during the great lumbering era in Saginaw and farming in the summer. For a time he was a mail carrier between the Straits of Mackinac and Houghton. The fact that he did not marry until late in life attests that the meager wages of a seasonal laborer were insufficient to support a wife and family.
Living conditions remained difficult for the young family, with the farm under a mortgage and Daniel pursuing winter work such as timbering and coal mining. Potatoes and other meager fare were staples at the family table. As his son Bud Hutcheson once commented, his father was "lord of the farm, axeman and boat caulker, and bible-quoting pleader of lost causes".
* year conflicts wih death certificate birth year(1824)and reported age at time of sailing. Perhaps 1828 or 29?
Mary's husband, Daniel Hutcheson age 29, had died at Ulster the previous year from typhoid leaving her two young children fatherless.
Daniel grew up in the community of Brighton, Newcastle District Canada where many of its modest population of 250 were also Irish immigrants. At age 22 after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter; and, seeing limited opportunity in Brighton, Daniel struck out for the burgeoning American frontier, starting in Detroit.
For the next 20 years Daniel labored as a seasonal migrant worker, loading and unloading boats, working as a deck-hand on timber boats in the summer months and taking on carpentry and caulking boats in winter. He worked at timbering during the great lumbering era in Saginaw and farming in the summer. For a time he was a mail carrier between the Straits of Mackinac and Houghton. The fact that he did not marry until late in life attests that the meager wages of a seasonal laborer were insufficient to support a wife and family.
Living conditions remained difficult for the young family, with the farm under a mortgage and Daniel pursuing winter work such as timbering and coal mining. Potatoes and other meager fare were staples at the family table. As his son Bud Hutcheson once commented, his father was "lord of the farm, axeman and boat caulker, and bible-quoting pleader of lost causes".
* year conflicts wih death certificate birth year(1824)and reported age at time of sailing. Perhaps 1828 or 29?
Daniel O. Hutcheson, age 4, his 9 year old brother David and his mother Mary Campbell Hutcheson sailed for Canada from Ireland 7 Jan. 1825.*
Mary's husband, Daniel Hutcheson age 29, had died at Ulster the previous year from typhoid leaving her two young children fatherless.
Daniel grew up in the community of Brighton, Newcastle District Canada where many of its modest population of 250 were also Irish immigrants. At age 22 after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter; and, seeing limited opportunity in Brighton, Daniel struck out for the burgeoning American frontier, starting in Detroit.
For the next 20 years Daniel labored as a seasonal migrant worker, loading and unloading boats, working as a deck-hand on timber boats in the summer months and taking on carpentry and caulking boats in winter. He worked at timbering during the great lumbering era in Saginaw and farming in the summer. For a time he was a mail carrier between the Straits of Mackinac and Houghton. The fact that he did not marry until late in life attests that the meager wages of a seasonal laborer were insufficient to support a wife and family.
Living conditions remained difficult for the young family, with the farm under a mortgage and Daniel pursuing winter work such as timbering and coal mining. Potatoes and other meager fare were staples at the family table. As his son Bud Hutcheson once commented, his father was "lord of the farm, axeman and boat caulker, and bible-quoting pleader of lost causes".
* year conflicts wih death certificate birth year(1824)and reported age at time of sailing. Perhaps 1828 or 29?
Mary's husband, Daniel Hutcheson age 29, had died at Ulster the previous year from typhoid leaving her two young children fatherless.
Daniel grew up in the community of Brighton, Newcastle District Canada where many of its modest population of 250 were also Irish immigrants. At age 22 after completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter; and, seeing limited opportunity in Brighton, Daniel struck out for the burgeoning American frontier, starting in Detroit.
For the next 20 years Daniel labored as a seasonal migrant worker, loading and unloading boats, working as a deck-hand on timber boats in the summer months and taking on carpentry and caulking boats in winter. He worked at timbering during the great lumbering era in Saginaw and farming in the summer. For a time he was a mail carrier between the Straits of Mackinac and Houghton. The fact that he did not marry until late in life attests that the meager wages of a seasonal laborer were insufficient to support a wife and family.
Living conditions remained difficult for the young family, with the farm under a mortgage and Daniel pursuing winter work such as timbering and coal mining. Potatoes and other meager fare were staples at the family table. As his son Bud Hutcheson once commented, his father was "lord of the farm, axeman and boat caulker, and bible-quoting pleader of lost causes".
* year conflicts wih death certificate birth year(1824)and reported age at time of sailing. Perhaps 1828 or 29?
Gravesite Details
Errors on the memorial stone seem to result from a mis-reading of the death certificate by a stonecutter or other person unfamiliar with the family understanding of Daniel's life.
Family Members
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