Andrew and Jane Buchanan Family

They had 8 children:
Robert Buchanan 20 Apr 1815
Charles Buchanan 26 May 1817
James Buchanan 1823
William Buchanan 28 Mar 1824
Andrew Buchanan born 10 Aug 1826
John Buchanan born 10 Aug 1829
Samuel Buchanan born 28 Mar 1832
Jane Buchanan born 27 Feb 1836

In 1847, during the height of the great famine, Andrew and Jane Buchanan, and their families set sail for Canada. At his time some of them were living in Binnawooda townland in Ardstraw Parish. After 10 days at sea, the ship was nearly destroyed in a severe storm and had to return for repairs. 

On a second attempt, a plague of "immigrant fever" broke out, and several people died, including William's father Andrew and a baby daughter. After quarantine in Kingston, the family came west to Esquesing, Ontario, where the men found work in the grain harvest. The women and children spent the winter in North Easthope, where they had Irish friends, while the men trekked north into uncharted wilderness to build shanties and clear land for the families. They were pioneer settlers in an unsurveyed district of huge trees. 

Later, some of the men found winter employment working in the big gold mines on the Comstock Lode of Nevada, returning to Elma, Perth County, Ontario to work on their farms during the summer. The journey from Donegal, Ontario to Gold Hill, Nevada took 11 days by train and by horseback. 

It was undoubtedly a tough life, but they approached life with courage and enthusiasm.