The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

290 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord passengers, and the fact that, at harvest time, the steerage was not as crowded as usual.’ While not a record, just over five weeks was a good crossing and it seemed to have a profound impact on George, who would make a business of promoting the Atlantic crossing and the emigration experience and come to spend much of his leisure as well as working time on the waterfront. The Wyatts appear to have quickly acquired property on the well-settled north shore of Burlington Bay, in the vicinity of Hamilton at the head of Lake Ontario. Within two years, the eldest daughter, Emma, would marry the manager of the local branch of the Bank of Montreal, Hugh C. Baker. Baker, in turn, was well connected with the Hamilton business community. In 1846, he began organizing what would become the Canada Life Assurance Company, for which he would serve as president, general manager, and actuary.* His brother-in-law’s name would open doors for the young George Wyatt. By 1851, at the age of 23, Wyatt had become the senior clerk of a young Scot, P.S. (Phillans Scarth) Stevenson. Given that the new family farm was a few miles across the bay, Wyatt boarded with Stevenson’s family, which included his wife, their newbom, and two female servants.’ Among the striking things in this relationship was the minor difference in their ages: Stevenson was only 26, while his wife and servants were in their early twenties. Stevenson was a merchant who, among other things, dealt in agricultural exports. That January, Wyatt bought on Stevenson’s account 5,000 bushels of red fall wheat in Goderich to be ground in St. Catharines before being shipped to market in Montreal.” In a different venture, Stevenson was acting for the owners of the 7 “Emigration to America,” Morning Chronicle (London), 9 September 1843, 3. % — Baker’s network involved in other insurance firms, banks, railways, the Hamilton Board of Trade and other business organizations. “Baker, Hugh Cossart” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, VIII: 43-45 (hereafter DCB) http:/Awww.biographi.ca/en/bio/baker_hugh_ cossart_8E.html The Wyatt house was built in what was East Flamborough township, and is now in part of the City of Burlington. Given that Hugh Baker and Emma Wyatt were married in Wellington Square (the former name of what is now the downtown section of Burlington), the family may have been there as early in 1845. The 1847 Wyatt house (aka Herberton House) is now a featured home in the area. Susan Evans Shaw, Heritage Treasures: The historic homes of Ancaster, Burlington, Dundas East, Flamborough, Hamilton, Stoney Creek and Waterdown (Toronto: Lorimer, 2004), 58. Patricia Green et al., ... and They Came to East Flamborough: A celebration of East Flamborough Township’ pre-Confederation heritage (Waterdown: East Flamborough Heritage Society, 1997). Census of Canada, 1851, Hamilton, St. Lawrence ward, No. 332, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON (hereafter LAC). Note that Wyatt is incorrectly entered as 25 on the form. At the time the census was taken he would have been only 22, © Stephenson v. Ranney, Report of Cases Decided in the Court of Common Pleas of Upper Canada, vol. 2 (Toronto: Rowsell & Hutchison, 1875), 198-226. Note that even within the report of this case, they use “Stevenson.”