Hi there,
Have you seen your family on the 1851 Canada census? I believe this is them, with some other children:
Canada West, Waterloo County, Galt, Enumeration District 1, Page 1
George Heriott, Labourer, born Scotland, Presbyterian, age 25
Elizabeth Heriott, born Scotland, Presbyterian, age 24
Robert H. Heriott, born Upper Canada
(=Ontario), Presbyterian, age 4
Jannet B. Heriott, born Upper Canada, Presbyterian, age 1
Based on this, I would say that they must have come direct to Canada very shortly after their wedding, and that Robert may not have quite turned 4 yet. The census was taken 11 Jan 1851, meaning that to be 4 he would have to have been born between 12 Jan 1846 and 11 Jan 1847 - impossible if he was indeed born in Canada. However, even though the official census date was 11 Jan, in many places it took up to a year to complete the census taking, so that date should be taken with a fairly large grain of salt.
In fact, this census is sometimes referred to as the census of 1852, since it was actually taken then in some places.
All in all, I would say you are looking at them coming to Canada in the same year as their marriage - ships didn't sail in the winter, so probably sometime before October 1848. Possibly 1849 if this information was actually recorded in 1852.
You can view the original census image yourself by searching for District 38, Sub-District 364 here:
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1851/001005-100.02-e.htmlThen click on "Associated Images" to get the PDF files. Page 1a will show you the names. Pages 1b, 1c, and 1d will give you more details about the family - use their line number (21) from 1a to cross-reference them on the other pages. Page 1b actually indicates that Jannet was born in 1851.
Canada didn't keep track of passenger lists until 1865, so you may have a hard time finding their exact arrival. But see this thread for advice on how to search for passengers pre-1865:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,159814.0.htmlHappy hunting!
MJP
