Coal Oil Usage in mid-nineteenth Ontario
Fred Cane: November 2007home page two page three page four
The Introduction of Coal Oil
One of the earliest ads relating to coal oil is reproduced in Oil Lamps, the Kerosene Era in North America. It dates to October 24, 1857 and offers for sale by Willis Jones and Company the patent rights to an "entirely new light”. This and the ad below are the earliest reference to coal oil in Ontario of which I am aware.
These two ads provide a date for introduction of coal oil to Ontario. The ad placed by Mulholland and Co. is interesting because it is for coal oil manufactured from coal. The commercial production of coal oil from coal predates its production from petroleum by about five years (Russell 1968: 134-35). Their ad would seem to indicate that coal-based coal oil was available in Ontario before petroleum-based coal oil and that coal oil was introduced to Ontario possibly as early as the mid-1850s.
- The Great Coal Oil Lamp!
Beauty, Brillancy & Economy
Not Explosive!
Parson's Coal Oil Lamp!
will produce at the same cost
7 times as much light as Burning Fluid
6 times as much light as Sperm Oil
5 times as much light as Lard Oil
3 times as much light as Whale Oil
3 times as much light as Rapeseed Oil
2 times as much light as Rosin Oil
3 times as much light as Candles
4 times as much light as Coal Gas
This a not a random statement but can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the most incredulous - if it now cost you $60 per year, we will reduce it to $20, a clear saving of $40 per annum. If your present expense is $30, we will reduce it to $10; if $10, we will reduce it to $3. It is perfectly safe and cannot be blown up & in on way effects insurance.
Camphene & Burning Fluids are not only expensive but so extremely dangerous that no prudent person will use them at all. There is no excuse for their use. Don't tamper will them for it is at the risk of your life.
Parson Bros, No 51 Boulton's Blk, Front St., Toronto
Manufacturers of the "Improved Coal Oil" lamp, and sole agents for "Pure Coal Oil".
N. B. - Oil lamps of every description altered to burn this oil and satisfaction guaranteed in all cases.
Toronto, Sep 28, 1858
First mentioned in the Toronto city directories in 1856, Francis Parson is listed as a soap and candlemaker. In the 1857 Canada Directory he is listed as a commission merchant as well as a soap and candlemaker. He lived on Ann Street (now Granby Street) in the suburban fringe of Toronto. His shop was located on Yonge Street. Henry Parsons and William Parsons, jr. joined Francis to form “Parson Brothers”. It is possible that they were added as partners in order to assist Francis in adding coal oil to his line of business. As noted above, dealers in candles often also sold lamp oil.
The Parson brothers demonstrated coal oil lamps the Provincial Exhibition (precursor to the Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto. The Toronto Daily Leader records on September 29, 1858 that “Parsons (sic) and Brothers of Toronto have a great variety of coal oil lamps on exhibition, both of the imported article and of their own manufacture, improved. Light from the oil is very clear, especially from the improved burner. They also show some handsome chandeliers.” Parson Brothers were awarded several prizes at the exhibition. They won first prize for their soap and another first prize for their candles. They also won first prize and a diploma for their “improved coal oil lamp” and for their “pure coal oil.”The Parson Brothers were wholesalers as well as retailers. They represented the Excelsior Coal Oil Company and the Pennsylvannia Rock Oil Manufacturing Company. The Pennsylvannia Rock Oil Company was incorporated in 1854 and is considered the world’s first oil company (Russell 1968: 139-140). Parson brothers were well known for their lamps and oil and the following ads show how quickly their “celebrated” lamps were available outside Toronto.
The Parson Brothers clearly dealt in lamps. In their ad from September 28, 1858 they style themselves as “manufactures of the ‘Improved Coal Oil’ lamp”. The article in the September 29 Toronto Daily Leader states that they “have a great variety of coal oil lamps…both of the imported article and of their own manufacture”. This article also mentions their “improved burner”.
The Parson Brothers sold imported lamps but did they also manufacture lamps? In the late 1850s the word “lamp” was used interchangeably to mean a complete lamp or to mean just the burner. The reference to their “improved burner” suggests that they may have manufactured burners rather than lamps.
The Ontario census taken in early 1861 gives a limited amount of information about the Parson family. They were all born in the United States and belong to the Baptist Church. Living with the family are two interesting individuals. One is a Mr. Pindue (?). The census taker had such poor penmanship that is impossible to decipher his name correctly. He is of interest because his occupation is given as tinsmith. The second interesting person is Miss Tamplin (?). Her name is more legible but still hard to read. Could Tamplin be a misspelling of Taplin?
The Taplin name is well known to collectors of coal oil burners. American Albert Taplin patented several designs for burners in the early 1860s (Russell 1968: 138). Is it possible that the American Parson brothers knew Albert Taplin and that their tinsmith was manufacturing burners of Taplin’s design in Toronto in the late 1850s and early 1860s? More research is required. It is safer to assume that the tinsmith working for Parson Brothers was employed to alter solar lamps to burn coal oil.
In 1863 the Parson Brothers diversified and began to manufacture coal oil. Francis Parson is listed as an oil distiller while Henry and William jr. appear to have run the retail and wholesale business from their premises on Front Street. Chewett’s Toronto Directory for 1867 gives the following account of their premises.
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“This extensive oil refinery is situated on Don and River Streets in the northeastern part of the city. It is one the first refineries in Canada and was established in early 1863. It is a large brick building with three still-houses attached. One still, manufactured by Mr. Neil Curry of Front Street is capable of turning out 200 barrels a week. The main building where the distilled oil is deodorized is devoted to refining purposes and contains an engine, tanks, pumps, pipes, etc. capable of manufacturing 250 barrels a week. So great has been the demand for refined oil that the firm has been working to their full capacity during the whole year. Messrs Parson Brothers have also extensive tracts of oil producing lands and are proprietors of several flowing wells in the neighbourhood of Petrolia. As the pioneers of this new but highly important branch of industry, Messrs Parson Brothers rank high in the trade.”
It is tempting to imagine that Anna Gowan saw the Parson Brothers demonstration at the 1858 Provincial Exhibition. Two months after the exhibition, during a trip to Toronto on November 29, she purchased a table lamp, a hall lamp, one gallon of coal oil and a tin can to hold the coal oil. The gallon of coal oil cost $1.50.
These are the first lamps listed in her household accounts. Anna Gowan’s table lamp had cost her $9.00. This is an expensive lamp. We know this from other items in her household accounts. A stove and stove pipes for their bathroom cost $7.75, a stove for the hall cost $14.00 and a pair of andirons cost $6.50. It is clear this lamp was a luxury item.
Anna Gowan purchased an additional three quarters of a gallon of coal oil that winter. She purchased a reading lamp for her husband as a Christmas present in 1859. But strangely, she purchases no coal oil between March 1859 and May 1860. Then in May she buys only a pint. In the eighteen months, between January 1859 and July 1860, Anne consumed less than two gallons of coal oil. Yet her house contained a table lamp, a reading lamp and a hall lamp. The lamps were used to some extent for she purchased two chimneys in November 1859. But the lamps could not have been used too regularly. This is corroborated by the fact that her consumption of candles remained at the same as it did prior to her purchasing the lamps.
The probable explanation for the limited use of Anna Gowan’s lamps is that they did not work very well. In September 1860, while she was in Toronto, she spent $1.50 for “altering oil lamp”. Altering earlier lamps to burn coal oil was common practice. In 1858 Parson Brothers advertised “oil lamps of every description altered to burn (coal) oil". That Anna Gowan paid $1.50 suggests that she was having a brass solar lamp converted to coal oil. This required the work of tinsmith like the one working Parson Brothers. Fluid burning lamps could be converted more easily by simply removing the burner and replacing it with coal oil burner. A coal oil burner and chimney cost 30˘ to 40˘.
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Left:
Bullseye and Fleur-de-lis coal oil lamp; pressed glass mold-blown font with hand finishing; 9 ˝” high; on a brass trumpet-shaped stem and 4” marble base; no. 1 inscribed brass collar; likely the product of a New England area glass house (Thuro Oil Lamps I 1976: 92) [author’s collection: provenance Landrum, South Carolina]
Right:
Bullseye and Fleur-de-les fluid burning lamp; pressed glass mold-blown with hand finishing; 9 15/16” high on a corrugated brass stem and 4” marble base; no. 1 inscribed brass collar; likely the product of the same New England area glass house (Thuro Oil Lamps I 1976: 92) [author’s collection: provenance Tenafly, New Jersey]
The New York City firm of Fellows, Hoffman & Co. published a catalogue in 1858-59 that is one of the earliest catalogues showing coal oil lamps. The lamp on the left is identical to a lamp illustrated in this catalogue. It is labelled “No. 188 Fancy”.
The trumpet stem is not found on fluid burning lamps. The corrugated stem is found on both coal oil and fluid burning lamps. However, the absence of the brass connector, located between the font and stem and used only on coal oil lamps, indicates the lamp on the right was intended for burning fluid. These lamps indicate how easily a fluid burning lamp could be converted to coal oil and that font designs originally designed for fluid burning lamps were also used for lamps intended for coal oil.