Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal immortalised as the "Cheeryble Brothers" in Charles Dickens' book, Nicholas Nickleby. Donald's mother was the sister of the Canadian explorer John Stuart, partner of the North West Company who rose to become Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Smith was educated at Anderson's Free School and on leaving at age sixteen he was apprenticed to become a lawyer in the offices of Robert Watson, Town Clerk of Forres. By the age of eighteen, Smith chose another career path: offered entry into mercantile life at Manchester, and a career in the Indian Civil Service, his choice was to pattern himself
Dickens in America in 1827. Miriam sees many of the same items Dickens saw. There are about 1,700 pieces of taxidermy. Dickens also visited Old Fort Niagara which was a British Garrison with a rich history. Ron Dale from the National Historic Sites of Canada gives Miriam a tour and explains how the fort helped prevent Canada from falling to the marauding American army thirty years before Dickens visited. Miriam visits the monument to General Isaac Brock who died in 1812 at the Battle of Queenston Heights. The first monument was severely damaged by explosives in 1840. The monument Miriam sees was built