Good morning, Joe. I looked at the build records for Old Town canoes that we have right here. Of 18 canoes from the teens through the 1940s, none have been stained and 17 have dates in the "colored" line. An 18' Guide model from 1938 has nothing there, and neither do a few canoes that were built in the 50s to the 80s... and none of these were stained either.
As for coloring new wood to match old wood, here's what I do. Different people do different things, but here's my approach. I strip, clean and sand the hull as described above, and then before doing anything else other than maybe - or maybe not - removing any old damaged wood, I put on two or three coats of thinned varnish. One coat isn't enough but two or three really show the final color of the ribs and planking. I use that as a guide for dying, staining or chemically treating new wood to match the old, mixing stains/dyes as needed to get the color right. I color the new wood before putting it in the canoe so I don't run the risk of accidentally getting stains or dyes on the old wood. After installing new pieces and getting the whole canoe fully varnished, its hard to tell new wood from old based on color (but as Mike said above, there's no way to fully match the character of old wood with its dents, dings, etc.).
Its okay that your first canoe is a learning project... really they all are. You're not doing any permanent harm to the canoe, but rather making it a good, useful boat again. That's a good thing. With all you learn now, you'll have even more fun practicing on your next restoration.
If you REALLY want to learn, see some wonderful canoes, meet outstanding people and have great fun, go to the
40th anniversary Assembly this coming summer (July 16-21, 2019) in the Adirondacks and learn from Don Kerr and many others. You'll be very glad you did!