Peter is the lockmaster at Jones Falls during the heyday of the Rideau Canal when thousands of immigrants,
tons of cargo, militia, and leading elite are travelling the Ottawa/Kingston route. He oversees the locks and safe passage
of steamboats, barges, Durham boats and other vessels through the passage. He loves travel,
parties, and horses yet is an uneasy, angry man, prone to quarrels with his wife, canal workers, and neighbours.
Catherine and he have a tumultuous mixed marriage, made worse by their serious alcohol problem, frequent accidents, and bouts of malaria in the summer.  

His diaries are transcribed in: The Sweeney Diary: The 1839 to 1850 Journal of Rideau Lockmaster Peter Sweeney.
Edited by Ken W. Watson and including an article “The Life and Times of Peter Sweeney” and “Who’s Who in the Diary,” both written by Sue Warren.
Smith Falls, Ontario: Friends of the Rideau, 2008. Available at: http://www.rideaufriends.com/book-sweeneydiary.html

Upper and Lower Locks at Jones Falls viewed from the south-west of them. Sweeney’s house can be seen to the left of the Upper Locks and some homes of the small community there.  

Watercolour by Thomas Burrowes c. 1835. Archives of Ontario: Ref. code C 1-0-0-0-57, AO I0002176

Sweeney records many Durham boats passing through Jones Falls full of immigrants. Painting by Philip John Bainbrigge, c. 1838.  

Library and Archives Canada, 1983-47-44

Sweeney’s diary July 1842. About once a month, he wrote C.D.H.A.Q. (as seen above) which was his short form for Catherine Drunk Had A Quarrel.  

Library and Archives Canada, RG43-C-I-2-n. Volume 1972 Lockmaster’s Diary.