Sarah Stretch Harris and her husband Critchlow Harris, along with their five children, immigrated to Charlottetown from England in 1856. The seven Harrises were joined by Sarah's brother, Joseph Stretch, his wife Emma Chadwick, and their five children as well as by Jane, the Harris's serving girl.^{ref 0} Joseph Stretch and Emma Chadwick hired a tutor jointly with the Harrises to provide their children with a proper British education in the new country. For the first year, the tutor, Mr. Hodgson, and his wife shared the cramped quarters with the two families.^{ref 4} Mr. Hodgson was not well liked by Sarah from the beginning and eventually rubbed Critchlow the wrong way and was dismissed (search the Letters for "Hodgson" for greater detail.)

Although she has no active voice on the website, a major figure in the Harris family was Martha Harris, the mother of Critchlow, who stayed behind in England. When Critchlow and Sarah got married, Sarah moved in with him and Martha.^{ref 2} Before the emigration, Martha and Sarah worked constantly together for thirteen years to manage the household and to care for Sarah and Critchlow's children. The bonds formed during this time would endure across the waves of the Atlantic and the stretch of time; During the first six years after her arrival in Canada, Sarah wrote prolifically to her mother-in-law. The 179 letters still in existence are presented on the SSTL website, the first one dated January 21, 1857, one year after her arrival.

At the time of the departure, Sarah had 5 children: Tom 9, Robert 7, Margaret Ellin 5, William 2, and a baby named Martha ("Little Patty") who was less than a year old. Little Patty died a few years after arriving in Canada and the Harrises had two more children on Canadian soil, Sarah junior and Ned.^{ref 3} Robert Critchlow Tuck describes the Harris Family as follows:

The first few years were financially difficult for the Harrises. One of Critchlow's and Sarah's main reasons for immigrating to Canada was financial hardship, although a number of other personal factors contributed to the move. The Harrises were only one of many English families experiencing financial hardship, but many of the others choose to stay in England. The final decision to move across the ocean had other important concerns, including Critchlow's traditional attachment to the land and focus on farming.^{ref 5}

The media in Britain loudly celebrated emigration and successful emigrants as “Hardy and Adventurous”. Canada was portrayed as a land of opportunity and a common feature of this portrayal was the vast amount of available and profitable land. The latter was especially attractive to Critchlow who, although he inherited numerous landholdings, had never been financially successful at agriculture in England. Canada offered a chance for a new start and it is not surprising that it appealed to him. Critchlow tried to make farming profitable for himself in Canada, but, like his English endeavours, he failed (search "crops farm farming").

One of the Harrises neighbours, Mr. MacDonald, a farmer in Charlottetown for over fifty years provided them with a contemporary confirmation of the difficulties in getting established as a farmer when he said that “he had been a farmer here for 50 years, but he was never satisfied with it as an agricultural country. Instead of improving it by clearing, that only causes it to deteriorate in value, for as the woods are cut down the springs dry, and when the firewood is cleared out from the back farms there must be great destitution” (search "MacDonald").^{ref 6}

During October of 1860, after finally having given up on farming, Critchlow attempted to open a store. After a hard, slow go at it, he gave that up as well, almost exactly one year later in October of 1861 (search "store"). After this, he swallowed his pride and forewent his traditional attachment to land and proprietorship and accepted work on a wage. Critchlow began working first for their family friend, Mr. Haszard, and then for the Davies brothers. His tasks included measuring, transporting, and purchasing goods, preparing swine, and overseeing a fishing station, among other various tasks (search "Haszard" and "Davies"). Finally, the financial prospects of the Harris family improved.

On February 26, 1866, Martha Harris died at the age of eighty. There is only one surviving letter between Sarah in 1866 and there are no existing letters for 1865.