“It gave us great courage to hear from all our dear ones at home.”

Kenneth McKenzie was born in 1822 in Inverness-shire, Scotland. In 1841, aged just nineteen, he emigrated to Puslinch, Ontario, Canada, and married three years later. His endeavors as a farmer supported his wife and ten children for twenty years until he established a new farm near Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, in 1867. He achieved his ambition to become the first settler of a community, which he named Burnside, situated on the bank of Rat Creek. That farm took years to establish as frequent and arduous travel between Canada and the midwestern United States, prolonged illness, obligations to his family, and maintenance of his existing property slowed his progress. Nevertheless, once solidly established, the new farm remained in continuous operation within the McKenzie family until its sale in 2010.

A man of more action than words, McKenzie made brief entries in a diary he began keeping in 1869. His entries reveal insightful details about farm life and the rigors of nineteenth-century travel. From livestock and goods prices to glimpses of “good sail on St. Louis Bay & out to Lake Superior,” personal details from an all-but-forgotten part of history make the past tangible for readers.

Being a part of a community was, at times, paramount to survival. And while McKenzie documented the closeness of his frontier community, he also provided stilted entries where readers clearly see that conflict often resulted in disastrous economic and agricultural losses. The most noteworthy of these entries are the March thirteenth and August eighteenth entries from 1871. In March, McKenzie writes, “Fawcett went to stop my sons this day from cutting timber near the woods next to the creek.” Not a single entry exists between March and August, and then the August entry starkly declares, “Fawcett’s two sons shot our cattle.” These terse but chilling lines provide sociological insight into the social constructs of the time.

Another interesting feature of the book is its incorporation of original documents, which make it a unique means of preservation. McKenzie originally wrote his entire diary in pencil. However, one annex contains photos of several pages of McKenzie’s diary manuscript in his own hand, adding an intriguing, visual glimpse into the man himself. The inclusion of numerous entries written on Sundays and that mention church attendance also suggest that McKenzie’s staunch religiosity drove his every action. His revulsion for profanity and underhanded business dealings figures prominently, revealing an understated sensitivity of spirit.

Since its central action occurs in the same era and some of the same American states, this book has about it more than a mere suggestion of the flavor of the Little House on the Prairie book series. The account may also serve as a companion text to Louis Aubrey Wood’s The Red River Colony: A Chronicle of the Beginnings of Manitoba, supplementing the information in that volume with McKenzie’s firsthand recollections. McKenzie’s abstinence from self-adulation throughout contrasts nicely with his descendant’s praise of his various contributions to his new community, making this an even more pleasant read.

“I appreciated the book Kenneth McKenzie Diary because of its unique insight into what life was like during earlier times. It reveals a variety of very interesting facts about daily activities and family interactions, politics and of course setting up a farm and a family homestead in Manitoba in the 1860s and 70s. I think for those interested in the life of early settlers, the unique perspective and snapshot in time of Kenneth McKenzie will bring more clarity and a variety of details unique to his time and his journey.”

“Keeping a diary of your adventures is one thing, but having someone take that and turn it into a book is quite another. Joyce McLean took great care in recording her ancestor’s notes from 1869-1870. I grew up knowing the McKenzie family and so enjoy the references to places and family names I know so well. The details of the prices of grain, food and supplies are so interesting. ‘Kenneth McKenzie Diary is a great read for anyone with a passion for Canadian history.”

“I found Joyce McLean’s book, Kenneth McKenzie Diary 1869 – 1870, a most enjoyable read latent with intriguing snippets of a pioneering family’s history and that of Manitoba at a crucial period running up to the Riel rebellion and the territory’s inevitable inclusion into Canada as a province. The book comes alive with detailed descriptions of a forgotten way of life, the hardships of settling a new land with travel itinerary spanning some 1,400-odd miles using various routes and modes of period transport in a story laced together with numerous facts and figures as diarized by Kenneth McKenzie at the time of his travels back and forth between Puslinch, Ontario (half way between Kitchener and Mississauga) and Burnside, Manitoba (near the junction of highways No. 1 and 16 just west of Portage La Prairie).”

“Kenneth McKenzie’s Diary by Joyce McLean provides a valuable and captivating insight into not only the history of the Portage La Prairie area of Manitoba, but the day-to-day life of a Scottish immigrant building a life in Canada in the mid-1800s. The diary is a Manitoban, Canadian, and Scottish treasure and we are fortunate this diary is now available to the public. Joyce provides clear and concise context and explanations for the diary and lays out the content in a very easy-to-follow way. Complete with maps, images of original documents, and family trees to give further context, understanding the ‘bigger picture’ of the diary is easy. Two big thumbs up!”