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Reluctant Pioneer: How I Survived Five Years in the Canadian Bush
Thomas Osborne delivers a gripping account of 1870s Ontario pioneer life.
The view 16-year-old Thomas Osborne first had of Muskoka was at night, trudging alone with his even younger brother along unmarked primitive roads to find their luckless father who, in 1875, had decided to make a new start for his beleaguered family on some "free land" in the bush east of the pioneer village of Huntsville, Ontario. The miracle is that Thomas lived to tell the tale.
For the next five years Thomas endured starvation, falling through the ice and freezing, accidents with axes and boats, and narrow escapes from wolves and bears. Many years later, after returning to the United States, Osborne wrote down all his adventures in a graphic memoir that has become, in the words of author and journalist Roy MacGregor, "an undiscovered Canadian classic."
Reluctant Pioneer provides a brooding sense of adventure and un- sentimental realism to deliver a powerful account of pioneer life where tragedies arrive as naturally as rain and where humour resides in irony.
The view 16-year-old Thomas Osborne first had of Muskoka was at night, trudging alone with his even younger brother along unmarked primitive roads to find their luckless father who, in 1875, had decided to make a new start for his beleaguered family on some "free land" in the bush east of the pioneer village of Huntsville, Ontario. The miracle is that Thomas lived to tell the tale.
For the next five years Thomas endured starvation, falling through the ice and freezing, accidents with axes and boats, and narrow escapes from wolves and bears. Many years later, after returning to the United States, Osborne wrote down all his adventures in a graphic memoir that has become, in the words of author and journalist Roy MacGregor, "an undiscovered Canadian classic."
Reluctant Pioneer provides a brooding sense of adventure and un- sentimental realism to deliver a powerful account of pioneer life where tragedies arrive as naturally as rain and where humour resides in irony.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Thomas Osborne
1 bookLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 15, 2019
Thomas Osborne is my great-grandfather. My grandfather is John Leslie Osborne and my mother is Janet Claire Osborne, his granddaughter.
I have one of the original "green books" typed by Cornelius Bates who was John Osborne's sister-in-law. There is a picture of Thomas and Arthur as young men at the time of the Canadian quest and later as grown men in San Diego, California. Ironically enough Thomas Osborne was hit by a car in San Diego and died from complications of that accident despite surviving the early wilderness of Canada.
My grandfather never talked about his father's time in Canada but I was also very young and may have missed out on those conversations.
I do remember going to Canada with my mother, father and brother to explore and see the area that William, Thomas and Arthur had homesteaded.
Yes, a map would have been most helpful as I wanted to see exactly where the events were taking place. I spent some time looking for the towns and landmarks as decribed on Google and a good old fahioned paper map.
Thank you for your research and time about this intriguing story.
Lesley A. Turner
I have one of the original "green books" typed by Cornelius Bates who was John Osborne's sister-in-law. There is a picture of Thomas and Arthur as young men at the time of the Canadian quest and later as grown men in San Diego, California. Ironically enough Thomas Osborne was hit by a car in San Diego and died from complications of that accident despite surviving the early wilderness of Canada.
My grandfather never talked about his father's time in Canada but I was also very young and may have missed out on those conversations.
I do remember going to Canada with my mother, father and brother to explore and see the area that William, Thomas and Arthur had homesteaded.
Yes, a map would have been most helpful as I wanted to see exactly where the events were taking place. I spent some time looking for the towns and landmarks as decribed on Google and a good old fahioned paper map.
Thank you for your research and time about this intriguing story.
Lesley A. Turner
August 20, 2015
This book is written as though Thomas is sitting beside you and telling you his life story. I enjoyed the style in that it sounded as though my grandparents were telling me about their childhoods. You will read "In those days..." or "Around that time..." often, but it is a conversational tone you get used to. The story itself is very interesting and I loved getting to know the history of a region so close by!
July 4, 2014
I agree with the other reviewer that a map would have helped. But I'm still giving this book a full four stars simply because I learned so much from this read! It's a great insight into what life in the north would have been like. And the no-frills narration of this young man's day to day life was completely absorbing and fascinating.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who takes no interest in wilderness survival. But for those who have been camping, or enjoy getting out into the wilderness, this will give you a very different viewpoint to the early settlement of Canada.
Political note: I was dismayed by the mention of the government "clearing the Indians" from a particular tract of land. From the matter-of-fact mention of this, one would assume this was standard practice to force an entire Native settlement into re-locating further north. Very sad.....but it's our history, and we must be aware of it. We must do anything we can to right these past wrongs!
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who takes no interest in wilderness survival. But for those who have been camping, or enjoy getting out into the wilderness, this will give you a very different viewpoint to the early settlement of Canada.
Political note: I was dismayed by the mention of the government "clearing the Indians" from a particular tract of land. From the matter-of-fact mention of this, one would assume this was standard practice to force an entire Native settlement into re-locating further north. Very sad.....but it's our history, and we must be aware of it. We must do anything we can to right these past wrongs!
September 23, 2015
Very interesting recollection of time spent in the Huntsville area in the latter 1870s. From harsh weather to bountiful harvest it recounts all that was to be. Remarkable and insightful. A map would have helped.
Amazing how many many miles Osborne and others walked and canoed to reach their destinations.
Amazing how many many miles Osborne and others walked and canoed to reach their destinations.
April 7, 2025
I really enjoyed this read. It was so interesting hearing about what life was like for settlers in Muskoka. The skills and determination of Thomas, Arthur, and their father were fascinating. I also appreciated that Thomas was clearly an unreliable narrator (as other reviews have pointed out, seemingly not giving his brother and father very much credit and also potentially exaggerating how quickly he was able to travel great distances), which only added to the authenticity of the story. I also found his voice through the text added so much richness in what could have otherwise been very dry.
January 5, 2015
This book isn't great literature, but it's a great account of the author's life. I agree that a map would have helped, although i found myself repeatedly checking Google Maps to see the area even though I know it fairly well. I'm sure it was especially interesting because of my familiarity with so many of the places, but it also sent me check on the history of the area to see what happened to the Cann family and the Port Sydney storekeepers, etc. Really liked it.
February 21, 2015
This book was incredible! A story of a USA city boy who adapted to life in the 1870s in rugged northern Ontario. What the pioneers had to face trying to establish themselves just to live through the next season.
December 11, 2014
Pretty simplistic writing, but a fun read especially for those of us that live in the area. History comes alive.
January 30, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir of the early settlement of the Lake of Bays area in Muskoka, which reveals the hard & dangerous life which was demanded. Thomas age 16, his younger brother Arthur 14, and their father William move from Philadelphia to the South Portage area where they clear land, build housing, grow crops, fish & hunt & do a tremendous amount of physical work walking & canoeing long distances, carrying heavy loads in the harsh winters as well as the rest of the year & gradually acquiring large amounts of land in the Portage area, while the mother & daughters go back to Philadelphia finding the conditions too rough. In 5 years Thomas will grow from a 65 lb boy to a 168 lb 6ft man with all the skills required to thrive, but will ultimately return to civilization to lead a much more genteel life, while father & brother stayed on.
April 28, 2023
Non-fiction - the story of a young man with his brother and father moving to the Muskokas from Phiadelphia in the mid 1870's. His other siblings and mother stayed for a while and went back. They endure malnutrition, brutal winters and poor crops. It reads like a journal. Osborne wrote this as a series of reminisces fifty years later. The only laws they seemed to obey were land title ones; fishing, hunting, environmental needs were ignored. The relationship with his father is strained. He and his brother live an amazing, extended outdoor life where a 20 mile hike to Huntsville was no big deal. Would have liked to have maps of the area to see where they were and where they traveled. And then after five years he tells his dad he is going back to Philadelphia and make socks with his brother?
No pharmacy references.
Set in Canada
No pharmacy references.
Set in Canada
August 4, 2018
An Interesting and, at the same time, a delightful account of a family as they settled into the harshness of backwoods Ontario. One wonders how the mind and body are so strong and resilient to withstand and tame such hardships as they enter a new land and create a new life. Certainly would recommend. A true account written in a very readable style.
February 6, 2023
Terrific. How to succeed in pioneer Muskoka, and the odd allusion to folks for whom failure meant death by disease, drowning, or starvation.
Nevertheless, an entertaining story of a man who succeeded by attitude, strength, wile, and energy.
The book succeeds on its own merits. But to those familiar with the area, from Gravenhurst up and over to Lake of Bays, it must hold special meaning.
Nevertheless, an entertaining story of a man who succeeded by attitude, strength, wile, and energy.
The book succeeds on its own merits. But to those familiar with the area, from Gravenhurst up and over to Lake of Bays, it must hold special meaning.
April 24, 2022
Amzing book on the early transformation of Hunstville/LOB area. Hundreds of settlers being promised lush fertile land arrive disappointed as they discover the extent of the Canadian Shield. A tale of resilience.
July 21, 2026
Love the book. Very close to my heart. Thomas tends to inflate distances. Temperatures on very cold winter nights are deepened beyond current datum. His reminiscences of people, places, routes, etc are remarkable 60 years after the experience.
December 9, 2018
Quite enjoyable if you live or vacation in Muskoka
February 18, 2022
Not great writing but very interesting about life in early Muskoka.
July 5, 2022
This should be required reading in Canadian schools. Amazing what people survived while trying to obtain a better life. This is a book I will definitely read again at some point.
June 28, 2014
This book desperately needs a map. Perhaps the print version has one? The version on Oyster does not, though there are photographs included.
An interesting story and I can believe that much of it is true--the harsh winters and difficult farming, the people starving and others just trying to escape their pasts.
But I find it hard to believe that Thomas Osborne would walk 50 miles over tough terrain in one day, in winter, with no food to eat but carrying plenty to sell. I find it hard to believe that he was so much more important to his father's ultimate success than his 2-years-younger brother Arthur--especially given that Arthur stayed for more than 5 years. In fact, for nearly his whole life--through his marriage and the raising of their children and his own father's death at age 90+. Clearly, Arthur was just as competent and capable as Thomas, but Thomas gives him no credit.
The Afterword is great--in spite of Thomas' rather mocking tone of their father, he knew what he was doing. He was not so weak and dependent on his sons as Thomas portrays him, nor was he quite as lazy as Thomas portrays him. And though Arthur did benefit from their homesteading, Thomas did not gain much in the way of land or money--it became his father's and brother's, after 5 years of hard labor. So William Osborne did use his sons and destroy any semblance of "normal" family life by focusing on his dreams in the north. But he knew what he was doing. He chose his lands well, and ultimately became wealthy because of his careful choices and his ability to follow the homesteading laws, etc, to his best advantage.
An interesting story and I can believe that much of it is true--the harsh winters and difficult farming, the people starving and others just trying to escape their pasts.
But I find it hard to believe that Thomas Osborne would walk 50 miles over tough terrain in one day, in winter, with no food to eat but carrying plenty to sell. I find it hard to believe that he was so much more important to his father's ultimate success than his 2-years-younger brother Arthur--especially given that Arthur stayed for more than 5 years. In fact, for nearly his whole life--through his marriage and the raising of their children and his own father's death at age 90+. Clearly, Arthur was just as competent and capable as Thomas, but Thomas gives him no credit.
The Afterword is great--in spite of Thomas' rather mocking tone of their father, he knew what he was doing. He was not so weak and dependent on his sons as Thomas portrays him, nor was he quite as lazy as Thomas portrays him. And though Arthur did benefit from their homesteading, Thomas did not gain much in the way of land or money--it became his father's and brother's, after 5 years of hard labor. So William Osborne did use his sons and destroy any semblance of "normal" family life by focusing on his dreams in the north. But he knew what he was doing. He chose his lands well, and ultimately became wealthy because of his careful choices and his ability to follow the homesteading laws, etc, to his best advantage.
July 31, 2019
Loved this book! I would have loved a map to follow along!
January 4, 2015
I enjoyed reading about the hardships faced by pioneers in the Muskoka area.
Read
April 30, 2019Toronto born in 1942, the areas in the book were my backyard. So good to determine details of areas I passed thru to the..real.. north. Such pioneering spirit and determination is so inspiring. Should be required reading in high schools!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews