We figured we would share a bit of an Irish tale in the spirit of the coming St. Patrick’s Day. The story has great material: folktale, memoir, fiction and literary hoax. The Yellow Briar: A Story of the Irish on the Canadian Countryside was written in 1933 as a kind of memoir by Patrick Slater. Only Patrick Slater was not real, and nor were his memories. For this story we turned to local historian, Richard Collins, who captured the story of and behind The Yellow Briar several years ago. The Yellow Briar explores the experience of a poor Irish immigrant in Ontario. It proved to be very popular and was reprinted four times in 1934, eventually selling 10,000 copies at the height of the Great Depression.
Matthew Wilkinson

John Mitchell (aka Patrick Slater) and The Yellow Briar - From Richard Collins

Ostensibly The Yellow Briar is a charming remembrance of an Irish orphan who escapes the Great Famine of 1840s Ireland and comes to the New World to seek a fresh start on the streets of Toronto and in the pioneer hinterland of Canada West (Ontario) in Mono Hills. The book was actually written by John Mitchell, under the pen name Patrick Slater.

When The Yellow Briar was published in 1933 it hit all the right notes for a readership mired in the Great Depression. Slater’s life story delighted readers with its splendid characters, its range of comedy and tragedy and, always appealing in popular literature of the time, its tale of unrequited love. Patrick’s hopeless love for a farmer’s daughter causes him to run off to fight in the American Civil War, and he also served as a deckhand on a lake freighter out of Port Credit. However, the majority of the story is set specifically in Mono Hills, near Caledon, and the local references and history give the book particular appeal.

Patrick Slater, the protagonist of the “memoir,” is said to have died in 1924 but not before setting his saga down on paper. The Globe and Mail felt that the book “gives a picture of Ontario to be found in no other work of fiction we know and has won for itself a permanent place in Canadian literature.”

The Yellow Briar began its literary life in 1933 as a gentle hoax. Although the novel was built around John Mitchell’s experiences growing up on a farm in Mono, with the co-operation of his publisher it was presented as the genuine autobiography of Patrick Slater.

In what proved to be a feature of his character, Mitchell himself seemed ambivalent about how far to push the deception. He gave interviews presenting himself as an acquaintance of the author. Curiously, as the true authorship became widely known, no one appeared to mind. In fact, readers seemed to enjoy the joke, and The Yellow Briar’s popularity zoomed.

However, in his law practice, due to poor accounting, John Mitchell had fallen into debt. He used clients’ money, around $20,000, to rescue himself. It was Mitchell who exposed his own fraud. In 1935 he made a public confession and reportedly refused help from fellow lawyers. He presented himself to police and insisted on being charged. He was disbarred and spent six months in jail.

John Mitchell, aka Patrick Slater, died in poverty in 1951.

John Mitchell gravestone at Springcreek Cemetery

In 1953, the Mitchell Church in Mono took up a collection that was able to cover the cost of a gravestone for Mitchell’s resting place at Springcreek Cemetery on Clarkson Road. At the time, two yellow briar roses were planted at his graveside.

More about John Mitchell:|
John Wendell Mitchell was born in 1880 near Drayton in Wellington County. His parents were Clara (nee Henderson) and William Campbell Mitchell. He spent most of his formative years living in Mono Township, near Orangeville. He knew the Caledon area of northern Peel County well. His grandparents were born in Ireland, but his parents appear to have been estranged. He had no living siblings. John reportedly lived with his mother, Clara, on his grandfather’s farm until around 1891, when John and his mother are listed as living in Toronto. In 1901, Clara was listed as the head of the household, with John aged 20. Living with them were several lodgers, including a James Kelsey and Martha Allan, who had been born in Ireland. In Mono, John had grown up adjacent to the farm of William and Sarah Duke, who had also been born in Ireland. One wonders at John’s inspiration for the character of Patrick Slater, and perhaps his inspiration could be found in his grandparents, their neighbours, and those that lived with John and his mother in Toronto. John went on to study at Victoria College, before enrolling in Osgoode Law School in 1902. He was called to the bar in 1907 and went on to practice law in Toronto for 28 years. John purchased property on Oakwood Avenue in the Credit Grove area of Port Credit in 1916. After his mother passed away in 1928, John reportedly became more reclusive. John Mitchell died in 1951 and was buried at Springcreek Cemetery in Clarkson.

Oh, by the way, The Yellow Briar is well worth the read!

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